Bloody Mary
by GalliaDavia
Summary: Victor Creed finds unexpected female assistance.Rated M for coarse language, sex, violence and whatever other bad thing that will come up in connection with Victor Creed.Don t like it, don t read!Otherwise-please review!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer first : I don´t own any of the characters of X Men and I don´t publish this to get money out of it in any way – it´s just for fun and for all who liked the latest X Men movie and Victor Creed/Sabretooth´s role as much as I did!**

**Please note :**

When I first started to write this, I wanted to get into Victor Creed´s feral charming side. As usual, things developed differently from my plans. In fact, things got darker than expected.

**So please note that this fanfiction will contain violence, vilification and strong sexual contents in later chapters.**

**If you don´t like it, please don´t read on !**

The first scene was just something that kept crossing my mind for a while before I wrote it down finally. Back there, there was no plot around, I only enjoyed to imagine that special scene. I also really enjoyed to use the good old "just met a guy at a bar" thing here - it´s SO convenient ;-) Enjoy!

Victor Creed was in a bad mood. He hated the place. Too many people. Too many nasty smells. Too much noise. He hated the whiskey they served. He even hated the worthless redheaded waitress. At least, he liked to see her flinch every time he snarled at her.

"I have enough of that guy!" Lisa hissed. Alayna looked over to the massive figure at one of the tables at the dark end of the bar. "_You_ can serve that asshole his next drink – I won´t!"

Alayna rolled her eyes.

"Come on! I got my hands full managing the counter!"

"I won´t!" Lisa insisted. "That guy is one of your breed – so you should manage!"

She took the next tablet full of drinks and disappeared, ignoring Alaynas dark stare.

XXX

Victor looked up to her when she served him the next drink. Asian. Perhaps no pure blood. But definitely asian. Slim, small, her skin in that fine pale shade. Huge almond-shaped dark eyes. Stupid thing even smiled at him.

He grabbed her wrist when she turned to leave. Cautiously. She turned back to him.

"Can I get you something else ?" she asked.

"Is Steven McGuire still regularly around?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"He´s gonna be there this night ?"

He forced her hand open cautiously, pretending to admire her skull decorated nails.

"It´s Tuesday, so he should", she stated.

"Look a little bit less suspicious, will you !" he demanded.

She took a step to the side, one wrist still in his grip, and let one arm rest lazily on his broad shoulder.

"Better ?" she asked, pretending to whisper something obscene in his ear.

He chuckled.

He released her wrist.

"Show me the guy if he enters, darling ?"

She looked at the several hundred dollar bills he offered her discreetly. She looked at the money first, than at the clawed fingers holding it.

"Gonna rough him up ?" she asked.

He nodded slowly, exposing his fangs in an evil grin. To his surprise, she touched his hand, closing frail soft fingers around his much bigger hand, denying to take the money.

"Then dedicate the first blow to me", she said. She bent a little bit forward as if she was going to kiss his cheek.

"No need to bribe me for this", she whispered, leaving.

XXX

Time passed. He kept an eye on her. Finally, she nodded almost unremarkably to him. Some moments later, he came over to the bar, getting into an empty seat there. She turned to him like to take his order.

"He´s over there, other end of the bar. Red leather jacket, lots of gold chains. You can´t miss him."

Some guy called for her and she turned for a moment to talk to him. When she returned to Victor, she put another drink down in front of him.

He considered things for a moment. McGuire was in company – several of his foul fellows. The girl had collaborated willingly before. Her hands rested loosely on the counter´s surface. He covered them carefully with his paws.

"Think you´ll manage to get him somewhere more private for me?"

He felt her tense. For a moment, they locked eyes. Huge jet black eyes, slightly sparkling in the dim light of the room, staring into cold stone grey ones.

"He doesn´t like me much", she stated.

His eyes narrowed. He disapproved of her cowardice.

"So promise me you´ll be right behind us", she added.

He only nodded.

"Still don´t want a reward ?" he asked then.

She only smiled.

"I´ll have to check for somebody to replace me here ´til I´m back. Could take me five or ten minutes."

Again, he nodded.

"No need to hurry, sunshine."

He released her hands which he had still covered with his so far.

"The drink´s on the house", she told him, turning away again.

He watched her leaving, taking some other orders in and calling for one of the other girls. He liked the smooth swinging of her hips under that bun of blueblack hair. She finally turned to McGuire and his gang of brainless monkeys.

Still observing them, he reached for the glass in front of him. He looked down for a moment when he realized the odd form of it, not the usual short thick thing they would serve a whiskey in. Then his stare returned to the group at the other end of the counter, a broadening grin on his face.

She had served him a Bloody Mary.


	2. Chapter 2

**Please note :**

**This fanfiction contains violence, vilification and strong sexual contents! **

**If you don´t like it, please don´t read on!**

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**Thanks for the reviews - so here we go! Slow progress, but at least progress at all! ;-)**

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"What do you mean, you got none ?" McGuire was near to a tantrum, she could tell. "Calm down. I think there should be some at the storage room in the back. I´m going to check if you just wait…" He grabbed her wrists and shook her. "Are you going to – let – _me_ – wait ?" he shouted. "It´s alright!" she said, giving in. "I´m gonna get you some. I´ll be right back", she said. He released her. "Fine", he muttered in exaggerated amazement.

Alayna gestured to her colleague that she would be right back. The other girl nodded. She rounded the counter. Victors gaze followed her slim figure in the loosely tied short black dress she was wearing. "Move your little asian ass, darling – I´m thirsty!" McGuire´s gaze followed her, too. She entered a door right besides the corner of the bar where the fellow and cronies lingered. It led into a dark corridor. She hoped that the plan would work.

Well, it did. She heard footsteps following her. "Won´t you be afraid in the dark, honey ?"

Alaya didn´t like the way he emphasized the last word. She also didn´t like the thought of McGuire in her back. That guy was said to be unscrupulously dealing with everything he could lay hands on. Stolen stuff, drugs, cars – rumours said, girls, too. She was not sure if that last thing was true or if he just liked to culture his bad reputation. She wasn´t willing to find out. He also liked to let people know how heartily he hated "freaks" – people like her. Regarding that, she was not sure if he knew that she actually was a mutant. She was not willing to find about that either.

She quickened her pace, grabbing the doorknob of the storage room when he got gripped her naked shoulder. "I´m talking to you, freak bitch!" So much for that. He pushed her into the dim lighted room, shoving her against the nearest rack, pinning her there with one arm, his free hand on her hips, moving down to get under the hem of her dress. "Why don´t you like me, honey, as I like your little Japanese ass so much." Feeling his breath on her face made her want to go sick.

Then somebody grabbed _his_ shoulder, yanking him away from her. The forceful movement made him stumble backwards into another rack, causing provisions to lash down and bottles to rattle. Victor was right after him. He grabbed the dealer´s shirt, pinning him. "Steven McGuire ?" he asked politely. "Who the hell are you ?" McGuire hissed. Victor sniffed. He turned his head to the girl behind him, staring at them. "First one´s yours", he told her, flashing a mischievous toothy smile.

The vicious blow made McGuire´s head jerk aside, blood streaming down his chin. "_Are_ you Steven McGuire ?" he repeated. When the guy just stared at him, Victor lost patience. He broke the other one´s wrist in one quick move. The snapping sound made Alyana shiver. McGuire cried out. "I am!" he moaned. "Fine !" Victor mocked. "You´re not the smartest guy, are you!" "Get – me – help !" McGuire yelled at Alayna. "Oh." Victor, actually surprised to still find her behind them, pretended disappointment. "I think she won´t", he told the other. "You´ll pay for this !" McGuire threatened towards Alayna. Victor chuckled. "She won´t, my friend", he told him. "Actually, she already _has been_ paid by me." He turned to Alayna. "Leave", he commanded. "You fuckin´…" McGuire started. "Shut the hell up!" Victor roared. He hit the other one again, drawing more blood. "I´m instructed to carry sweetest greetings from your former business partners to you", he told him. "Fuck you !" McGuire hissed. The mutant answered that by knocking the other one half to unconsciousness with his head.

He grabbed the dealer harder whose legs had given way under him for a moment. "You will never find out where the money is if you kill me!" McGuire mumbled, blood spilling from his mouth. "No need", the mutant answered nonchalantly. "I already know." "Charlie…" Victor opened the hand he had grabbed McGuire´s throat with. His next stroke made the man go down as a consequence, leaving bloody scratches over his face. McGuire howled when a hard kick broke some rips. "You´re right, man – Charlie won´t. As he´s already dead." McGuire tried hard to get back to his feet, crying out when he moved. Victor chuckled, finally grabbing the other one´s shirt again, putting him back on his feet and pushing him back again against the rack. "I visited him this morning." McGuires eyes seemed to get bigger when he finally realized the implication. "Mutant bastard", he spat. Victor´s grin broadened, totally exposing his fangs. "You could have had it the easy way", he told the other.


	3. Chapter 3

**Please note :**

**This fanfiction contains violence, vilification and strong sexual contents! **

**If you don´t like it, please don´t read on!**

*** * ***

Alaynas senses all told her to run.

Unfortunately, her body denied to react. Minutes seemed to stretch to eternity. Several sensations entered her mind clearly. The moldy air of the storage room. The dust whirling ´round when McGuire went to the floor. The smell of blood. _His_ smell.

She should have fled. Still, she stood. Watching that guy perish. Close to the end, some instinct made her close her eyes. She had been right. An instance later, Creed brought it to a bloody end.

Time seemed to have stopped completely. The smell of blood overlaid everything now. Victor needed a moment to regain control. "Somebody´s coming", a voice whispered. He whirled round. Then he realized that the girl was still there. Stupid little thing.

"Which direction ?" he asked. The corridor led from the bar to some storage rooms and further to the back door. "The bar", she whispered. "Female. One of the girls." He couldn´t read in the girl´s expression. She spoke somehow mechanically, avoiding to look at the body. "Send her away", he ordered, curious if she would follow the order. "If you want her to live".

Lisa stopped when she recognized her colleague. "Everything´s alright ?" she asked. Alayna managed a nod. "Yeah." Her mind and body seemed to work automatically. "I just broke a bottle – I´ll clean the mess up and be right back." Lisa nodded. Lisa had almost reached the door back to the bar when she turned. "Where´s McGuire ?" she asked, slightly suspiciously. "I saw him following you." "Outside", Alayna heard her voice telling the other waitress. "Meeting someone." Lisa only raised her eyebrows, then returned to the bar.

Alayna watched her leave. The door closed behind her, shutting out the light. She felt her hands tremble uncontrollably. Her mouth went dry. This hadn´t been a beating up, but an execution. And she was smart enough to catch that she`d be next. There was no way out. She felt her mutation making impact, but she would never been able to fight that guy. Not this way, not another one.

"Good girl", he growled lowly in that dark menacing tone. She felt his breath down her neck, his massive body behind her. She closed her eyes when he placed a soft kiss right over her cervical artery. "Make it short", she whispered. For a moment, she felt his beard and skin on her cheek when he came close to inhale the scent of her skin and hair.

"Just do it !" she finally cried out in panic.

She couldn´t tell how long she had really been standing there, expecting to die. When she finally dared to turn, the corridor behind her lay abandoned.


	4. Chapter 4

**Please note :**

**This fanfiction contains violence, vilification and strong sexual contents! **

**If you don´t like it, please don´t read on!**

*** * ***

I know it´s not much, but there´s more to follow! Enjoy.

* * *

_Some 10 years later – somewhere in a small shabby town in Canada..._

Alayna sighed. She was used to work a lot, but this evening, even she felt quite exhausted.

A bad snowstorm held a lot of their regular customers in the bar instead of returning home after having a beer after work with some friends. And as the storm still got worse, other poor devils still found there way in, as the roads would be impassable by now. She guessed that a lot of these guys would have to spend the whole night in here. The bar actually had some guestrooms – but only some.

She handed her colleague the next beers. "They say the storm ´s still getting stronger", Liz told her. Alayna sighed. "This is the third for this week!" Liz smiled to her. They both had only some hundred meters to their homes. "I´m glad that I know that I will reach home tonight!" "What´s ordered ?" Alayna asked. Liz smiled to her. "Six beer, two whiskeys and – I tell you, it´s the weather that drives them crazy – a Bloody Mary."

Alayna stared at her colleague. Liz returned the look, irritated. "Calm down – I told the guy that he´s not at a fuckin´ cocktail bar!" Alayna glanced around. "Did he order something instead ?" "A bourbon." Liz gave her an odd look. "Everything´s alright, darling ? You look like you´ve just seen a ghost." Alayna´s eyes had finally found the huge silhouette she had been looking for. She felt her blood run cold. "Ally ?" Liz whispered. Alayna managed a weak smile. "Don´t worry. Just a little tired." Liz gave her another questioning look, but turned to serve the next round of drinks. Alayna turned to fill the next glasses. Her fingers trembled slightly.

Victor smiled darkly at the table in the back of the bar. He had been right. It was her. She had glanced ´round when the other girl had told her his order. Their eyes had locked for a moment. Then she´d looked away.

He could tell, she looked spooked.

He stayed for another drink. Then left. He had entertained the thought of a nice little talk with her, but decided against it. There was no reason to hurry. He´d be around for a while anyway.


	5. Chapter 5

**Please note :**

**This fanfiction contains violence, vilification and strong sexual contents! **

**If you don´t like it, please don´t read on!**

*** * ***

**Short chapter, but for that two new ones up today - please review!**

*** * ***

„Are you sure you´re alright ?" Liz sounded concerned. "I am fine. Just tired." "You said that before", Liz stated, disbelieving. They had reached the house Liz rented a small flat at. "Don´t worry, darling, I am fine. Just got a horrible headache by now." She could tell that the friend wasn´t buying it. "If you need anything…" Alayna smiled to her. "Thanks, Liz!" They hugged. "Get a hot shower and go to bed", Liz advised her. Alayna nodded. "Good night." "Good night." Liz turned and disappeared inside.

Alayna had only a minute of walking left to her own home. She breathed deeply, taking in the cold winter nights scent. The main road lay abandoned, snowflakes still alighting. The storm was more or less over, but the wind was still strong and biting.

She glanced around for a moment, feeling quite uncomfortable alone in the dark. The first time in years, she realized.

She sighed and headed home. There was no use to rack her brain about things she couldn´t change anyway.


	6. Chapter 6

**Please note :**

**This fanfiction contains violence, vilification and strong sexual contents! **

**If you don´t like it, please don´t read on!**

*** * ***

**Don´t mind if things seem a little weird by now - there´ll be plenty of explanation later on! ;-)  
**

*** * ***

A few days later, Creed decided to get some provisions.

He had been told that the store at the end of the main road offered an agreeable range of provisions and stuff, not only the most necessary things. As it was the only store around, he wouldn´t have much of a choice anyway. Besides that, he had some idea of what he might find there besides the food.

She was busy, packing stuff into huge bags for another customer. Still, she looked up when he entered. She averted her gaze quickly, pretending to concentrate on the other guys stuff, but he was sure that she had recognized him. "Doesn´t she work at the bar, too ?" he asked the grim and rough looking brute next to him. They had already met at the gas station before. The guy looked like a normal big brute at the first look. Still, though quite commonly dressed in jeans and one of the omnipresent flannel shirts, a look into the unnatural shining blue eyes told everybody that he was a mutant.

They had met like a lot of their kind did out here. They recognized each other as mutants. They gave a short nod. They went their way. No unnecessary questions. The other guy grunted. "Yeah. But not on Wednesday and Sunday."Victor suppressed to growl. That seemed to be common knowledge around here. "She attends to the shop for the owner, Danny. Guy´s a veteran. Somehow disabled. Bad tempered sleazy bastard." Victor gave the other one a short side glance. _Look who´s talking._

The other guys voice was so deep that the words sounded more than a growl than speech. Still, there was nothing feral in his scent. "She also runs the household for the guy." He gave a short rumbling laugh. "A pity. Helps an old lady out sometimes with the laundry and the cleaning. When she´s not busy to try and repair the old rust bucket Danny drives or to sort out the shit around the house he can´t." "Such a busy girl", Victor muttered. The other one grinned. "If you wanna meet her – forget about it."

Victor wondered if the other one would tell him next that he had already tried and she had denied – taking that as an indicator for Victor´s own chances. But the other one only sighed. "I never dared to ask her, though. But I know a lot of guys who did. She didn´t meet any single one of them." Well, Victor couldn´t find something too disencouraging in that. He was not like other man.

* * *

The store was empty when it was his turn. They looked at each other for a silent moment, separated from each other through the counter. She was in a fitting yellow shirt and jeans, her hair dressed back in a ponytail. Some shorter strands of black hair had escaped the hair band and the barettes. She barely reached up to his shoulder and had to look up at him, jet black eyes focusing on him.

"How can I help you ?" she finally asked. He watched her for a moment. She was scared. But not as much as he had expected her to be. "Shouldn´t you ask me what I need ?" he asked in return. She surely had realized that they would be alone when the last other customer had left. She hadn´t done anything to avoid it. She smiled. "I am not that lightheaded." There _was_ some fear in her scent, but no panic. He didn´t comment, but handed her a list.

She took it, obviously not surprised. A lot of the customers out here came only one or two times a month to get what they needed. Most of them brought longer lists. She checked it out quickly, feeling him watching her. She didn´t seem to have aged much since they first met. Besides that, he realized that she used quite an unobtrusive fragrance which didn't disturb his sense of smell. In addition, he could smell her natural scent, too.

"We´re running out of Bourbon at the moment, but we can check if you´d like something else instead", she told him. "Does the old man gets sloppy about his stores ?" he asked. She smiled. "Actually, it´s my fault." _And who are _you_ calling an ´old man´?_, she added privately, her eyes still fixed to the list.

A frail finger slid over the small piece of paper. He noticed the pitch black fingernails again. They might look painted on the first look, but there were no white edges. They were like this naturally. "What about the meat ? Fresh ? Frozen ?" "You got it fresh ?" "Two times a week, Tuesday or Saturday. I can order it for you." He couldn´t resist to give her a toothy smile. "Do so then." She nodded. "For Saturday ?" she asked. He nodded. "For Saturday." "Alright." She frowned. "Have you any other stuff to take care off around ? I could put everything together for you meanwhile. You wouldn´t have to wait." "No. Seems like I got to wait." He chuckled. _What a pity. _

He enjoyed watching her pick his provisions out of various shelves and boxes. She moved with a kind of natural grace he had always appreciated. And she was doing it for him. She didn´t try to keep up some fluffy talk, but concentrated on his list instead. The mass of constrained black hair bobbed with every move. Her hair hadn´t been that long back then.

"How long is it since we last met ?" he suddenly asked.

She didn´t even look up from his list. "Thirteen years", she answered without hesitation.

"You haven´t changed a bit", he stated. She returned to the counter, finished with his list. She still smiled. It didn´t look put-on. "Don´t tell me that surprises you", she muttered.

She put his stuff in a huge box. He paid. "Why is it that you don´t date anybody ?" he asked. She didn´t trust her ears. Her chin came up. Staring at him for a moment, her soft lips slightly parted in disbelief. Then she regained control over her features. "Have you ever heard of a thing called privacy ?" she asked back. It sounded not offended. "So why ?" he insisted. "Nothing adequate ´round ?" He reached over the counter and gently touched her cheek. She gasped. "Men around must envy the ex soldier you´re looking after."

She dropped his change. Deliberately.

She picked the coins up and handed them to him. "Don´t forget about the meat", she told him. "Store´s opened from 8 to 1 on Saturdays." "I´ll keep it in mind", he rumbled, slightly amused. He turned to leave. "Wait!" He cocked his head. "Don´t want me to leave ?" he asked, eyebrows raised. There was the beginning of a weak smile around the edge of her mouth. "On what name shall I order the meat ?" He grinned, obviously not bothering about the rebuff. "Pick one."

She watched him leave. When she was sure that he was out of sight, she headed for the storage room. She needed a drink.


	7. Chapter 7

**Please note :**

**This fanfiction contains violence, vilification and strong sexual contents! **

**If you don´t like it, please don´t read on!**

There will be some flashbacks from time to time - to avoid total confusion, they´ll be posted in italic style.

Please review!

_She didn´t remember much of __the kidnapping itself later. She had left her apartment at that evening. Had been attacked on the street. Sedated and dragged away. That was it._

_She woke in a cell next to uncounted others, her head hurting, feeling cold and sour. Finding out that she had been abducted to act as a guinea pig for some crazy human freak, calling himself a military scientist._

_She was imprisoned together with a lot of other mutant women, there mutations as stunning as different from each other one´s. _

_She went through several examinations and tests.__ Interrogations about her mutation. The medical staff around them didn´t care much about the imprisonment of their test objects. Still, they were not cruel. Nobody hurt her. She only got handled a little bit roughly by one of the guards once, when one of the girls she had went to the canteen with this evening had freaked out on their way back. She and the other women watched in silent horror how she was sedated and dragged away. There was no use trying to help her. They all knew. _

_But besides some bruises, she stayed at least unhurt. __People did their job and that was it. _

_She finally even met the guy in charge, Stryker. She hated him from the moment he entered the room. A creeper. Double-tongued. When she simply asked him if - and when - she would be released, he told her that she would be released as soon as they had her mutation completely mapped. She needn´t to be psychic to know that he was lying. _

_A week passed, then another one. She got used to the daily routine there quickly. Got to know her cell neighbours and the woman she went to the two daily meals or the sanitary facilities with, always in groups of six to eight._

_They had been instructed to stay calm and obey their keepers, somehow faceless people, obviously mutants and humans alike. As long as people obeyed, things went quietly. From time to time, somebody freaked out. The one would be knocked down or – in the case of physically too strong or otherwise too dangerous__ because of his or her mutation – sedated and "treated". If they returned, often obviously on heavy drugs. _

_The state of the members of her small group – as well as the state of the people she caught a glimpse at when she passed their cells – was quite different. The young girl next to her might have been not older than fifteen. She cried a lot. She was a shape shifter and of quite an interest among the scientists. Her regular outside appearance was in fact quite stunning, but she was a soft little thing, Alayna could tell. As the medical staff had obviously realized how frail the girl was, she shared a cell with an older mutant woman, Lucy. Alayna thought that Lucy, acting like a kind of surrogate mother, was the only thing that held that girl alive. _

_The __woman imprisoned on the other side of her own cell was able to breath or to filter oxygen out of water – she had a normal working breathing system as well as gills, but looked quite normal. She took things in a kind of stoic way Alayna was stunned by. The other three women of their group were imprisoned at the opposite site of the narrow hallway between the cells. _

_Some of the__ women around seemed to die slowly of undernourishment or depression. Others seemed to go mad slowly. Others never spoke a single word or went into hunger strike._

_Trouble started soon._

_When _they_ were back._

_T__here was some turmoil, late in the evening. "What is this about ?" she whispered to Cassandra, the girl with the gills. "Seems that they´re back from the hunt", the blonde woman whispered back. "New prisoners." After a short pause, she shuddered. "That´s bad." Cassandra´s tone was boding ill. "What do you mean ?" "If they´re back from a trip and were successful, they might get rewarded." Alaynas heart dropped. "Does that mean what I think it means ?" she asked, fearing to already have an idea. "They will be allowed to pick a girl." "Does that happen often ?" Lucy, sharing the bed next to Alayna´s cell with Bella, the by some sardonic coincidence called beautiful, but in fact alien like looking shape shifter girl, laughed bitterly and answered lowly. "Depends on how good they work." _

"_And __their taste and who´ll be allowed to choose", she said after a pause. "I thought for a while that someone like me wouldn´t attract any interest." With her angular shaped face and the short cropped hair, the scraggy and emaciated body, she had guessed that she´d be safe from the men´s approaches. A bad mistake. "Molly is regularly on the list", Cassandra whispered, her voice full of sympathy for the beautiful ballet dancer, one of the other girls of their group. Alayna felt suddenly sick. She had seen the marks on her body, but had tried to ignore them. _

"_Shouldn´t we have had a shower first ?" Dukes asked. "You´re out of your goddamn non existing mind, Dukes ?" Wilson replied. "Tigger ´s still off somewhere. The guy fucked me up last time, he won´t do this time. I am not willing to take what he left to us. So we´ll chose first this time and have the damn shower after that. And what about this little diamant over there." Alayna recognized the voice of one of the guys who had kidnapped her. A surprisingly good looking guy had approached her cell and checked out Naomi´s body in the cell opposite to her´s. Naomi´s eyes widened in shock. "Wilson and Dukes", Lucy informed her in a whisper. "Two of Stryker´s favourites. The mouth and the brainless." "Jes´, how old are we, girl ?" Wilson let the blade of his sword slowly rattle along the bars. "Such a fine girl imprisoned in this disgusting cellar, ts ts ts." Grace, in the cell next to Naomi´s, rolled her eyes. _

"_Why don´t you get a woman who´s able to take you on, Wilson ?"__ the obstinate woman suggested coolly. Alayna wondered if the girl really knew what she was doing or was just being foolish. "Shut up, you bitch!" Wilson hissed. "Still pissed that you failed last time?" she challenged. "Really, Wilson, it´s something that may happen to _any_ man from time to time." "Why don´t you shut up or I chop your pathetic little body up into pieces, darling ?" he returned politely. "Come on, Wade", she continued. "Have another try." _

"_What about her ?" Dukes had turned to Alayna´s cell. The deep rumbling voice and the giant figure of the guy made her blood run cold.__ Though he didn´t seem to be very bright in fact – he just might _squash_ her; perhaps accidentally. "Isn´t Creed into Asian ones ?" "Old man may have been grown too hard already to get that far down the hall", the merc chuckled. Then something drew his attention. "Where is _she_ ?" he raged, staring at an empty cell some steps down the hall. A menacing chuckle rang. "Shitface may have been to busy staring at himself in the bathroom mirror to notice that I claimed her", sneered a deep voice. "Creed", whispered Cassandra, looking disgusted. „The guy who kidnapped me", Lucy added under her breath. _

_"_Excuse_ me ?" Wade shrieked. „Seems you didn´t suck up nicely enough to Stryker, Wade." Another chuckle. "Again", Creed added._ "_But you!" Wilson replied. Victor grinned. "Deeds instead of never ending moronic talk, Wade! Wasn´t it you who returned with nothing than a big pile of collateral damage instead of only a single one of the targets you were send for ?" "Where is she ?" Wilson demanded to know. Victor shrugged indifferently. "At the infirmary ? Dead ? Who cares ?" "Stryker ordered you to…." "I give a – goddamn – fuck – to what he ordered !" Victor barked. „And now get out of my way." _

_Alayna stared at the man in front of her cell. Dukes seemed at least clever enough not to interfere. Wilson and Creed stood only a step away from each other. None of them was taller than the other, but right from the first look, Alayna would have bet on the obviously feral mutant. He seemed to be twice as broad and muscled as Wilson. And much more self controlled. Still, watching them quarrel about the women ´round like they were quarrelling about the best piece of meat was quite unnerving._

"_You´re a goddamn bastard, Creed."__ "Goddamn right, Wilson." Creed grinned, revealing fangs while throwing a short glance over to Dukes. The guy had just gestured to one of the guards to open the cell his favourite chick was imprisoned in. A slim but still well curved thing, a former table dancer – Dukes didn´t like changes, and this one seemed to be halfway willing and agreeable for him. "Why don´t you check cell block B, Wade ?" Victor suggested. "As you like them young and untouched, you´ll be right there!" He referred to the cell block where the male mutants were kept. Wilson narrowed his eyes. He glanced at Alayna, then at Creed again. The feral drew some inches closer to him, suggestively lowering his voice. "And just for your information, little samurai – I had the Asian girl already giving me a massage when you were still busy blowing half a block of houses away for nothing last night. _Was_ a virgin, by the way. A pity you missed the party." "Damn feral shithead", Wilson cursed. He threw another look at the Asian girl. Inferring from the horror stricken look on her face, Creed told the truth. He gestured to one of the guards to let Grace out to accompany him and spat to the ground in front of Creed. _

"_Whatever", the feral muttered and grabbed the keycard out of the guards hand. He opened Alayna´s cell door, staring down at her, sitting like frozen on the narrow cot. "Get up !" he ordered. _


	8. Chapter 8

**Please note :**

**This fanfiction contains violence, vilification and strong sexual contents! **

**If you don´t like it, please don´t read on!**

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**Another rather calm chapter - just don´t give up on me! ;-)**

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**Canada**

She sighed, rummaging through her pocket, searching fort the keys. She finally found them and opened the door, hauling up the bags with the food. "Ally ?" Danny sounded pissed, she could tell. Well, she was used to that. "It´s me", she confirmed. Not that any other people owned a key for the door – but he was probably the only one in town who really locked the door, anyway. She heard him getting up to his feet and crossing the living room.

Danny was in his fifties and had a stiff leg and various shell splinters moving through his body. They caused constantly pain, on some days more, on some days less. To make things worse, he was still traumatized, though he pretended otherwise. He definitely needed help with some things, but hardly accepted it from anyone. Alayna was the big exception. Nobody in town understood fully why she stayed with the guy. Maybe as nobody really believed that she really only ran his household - and didn´t share his bed.

"You´re late", he complained, disturbing her thoughts. "And I am hungry." She only smiled. The complaint was obligatory. He always did. "Help me with the stuff then", she answered, leaving one of the bags besides the door. He _could_ help her, though he liked to give the pitiful veteran. At least to her. He didn´t like to talk about that to others.

Most of people in town thought of him as notoriously bad tempered and bitter in private. Still, he had everyone´s respect, as he was reliable and might probably even keep a cool head if the world would finally come down over them. Well, he _was_ notoriously bad tempered and bitter. But he would never have really insulted or hurt her willingly. Besides that, she saw trough him.

"So what do you want for dinner ?" she asked him when he finally entered the kitchen, putting the bags to the table. "Something cold ? Something warm ?" "Something cold", he answered roughly. "I´ll starve otherwise ´til it´s ready." She only threw him a dubious look. He knew exactly that she was going to work at the bar later in the evening. So he pretended to be too hungry to wait for her to finish cooking something. That way, there would be time enough for her to shower and chat for a while before she´d have to leave.

"You could have come over and help me with the latest delivery – than you wouldn´t have had to wait for me so long." He muttered a curse. "I took some painkillers. Made me tired." She gave him a stern look. "You´re getting lazy and that will make things only more tiring!" He grinned. He was at least a head taller than her and she looked like she could be his daughter, though he knew better.

"Stop lecturing me", he rumbled. She laughed. "I thought that´s what you pay me for." "People just don´t know what a merciless keeper you are." "You´re really a poor guy!" she confirmed sarcastically. He sighed exaggeratedly. He knew that a lot of men in town envied him for her company. But never enough, he had figured, as none of them knew what this particular girl was able to.

"Is everything alright ?" he asked. She turned her head to him in surprise. "Yeah. Sure." "You´re different." She rummaged through one of the cupboards. "Nonsense. I am fine." "Did you hear about old Misses Davis?" She stopped in her tracks. "No. What is it ?" As she worked at two of the busiest places in town, she rarely missed breaking news. "Another heart attack. She´s at the hospital. Her daughter found her this morning." "Oh no!" Alayna was full of sympathy for the nice old lady. She had encountered enough through her life to suffer from stuff like that in addition now. "I think she´ll finally have to go and live with her daughter if she´s recovered from this", he mused. "It would be definitely safer for her", Alayna agreed. He got back to his feet, shooing her aside. "Go have a shower. I´ll get us some sandwiches ready." „It´s no problem, Dan, I can…" „Leave!" he ordered. She sighed. With a smile, she got to her tiptoes to kiss his cheek and left for her own little flat at the top floor of the house.

She felt sorry for the old lady. Despites all the strokes of fate she had had to deal with in her life, she was still somehow contended – something Alayna wished she could be able to be too if she´d reach that age. But the old lady at the hospital again and finally leaving her house in town would also mean that she wouldn´t have to help with the laundry and cleaning – and that she would have to do without that money. Though it had never been much – it was money she badly needed.

* * *

He visited the bar again, two days later. It hadn´t been hard for him to observe her unnoticed. Nevertheless, he enjoyed to sit there in a dark corner and watch her serving. He in particular liked the thought of her serving _him_, though she obviously refused to do so, leaving it to the kid that worked with her that night. Well, for the moment, he was content with letting her _know_ that he watched.

The kid helping her was obviously new – and quite young. Alayna worked the counter. The girl was nervous, he could tell. She served the wrong stuff several times – not that there was much more to be served or to be ordered than beer and whiskey. Sometimes she almost stumbled over her own feet, glasses rumbling on her tray. One time, she set the tray that hastily down to the counter that two glasses slipped. Alayna caught them with almost supernatural speed – only smiling to the younger one after that.

Then one of the guys grew perky. He had taunted the girl the whole evening. When she brought him another beer, he tried to slap her ass. The girl flinched and tried to avoid him touching her – dropping his beer to the floor. The four men around the table laughed while the girl blushed. Now she would have to clean up the mess in front of that guy, too. She hurried to the bar to replace the beer and grab the mop. Alayna gestured towards her. The girl blushed worse, but the older one insisted. With the new beer in one hand, the mop and the handbrush in the other, Alayna returned to the certain table.

"Keep your hands with you, will you, Beckett", she suggested, sounding quite politely. Becket laughed. Victor mused that a straight blow to the guy´s face would have been more effective to make the guy understand her point. "She´s such a sweet little thing." She put the beer in front of him. "You know how it works", she answered, starting to clean up the mess. "Well", Becket returned, "as you´re always so repellent, I´ll have to look around for another girl, no ?" She had bent down to one knee, sweeping up the broken pieces of glass and got up now. "I think we both know that your wife is going to kill you if she ever finds out about that – especially when she finds out about you fondling girls that could be your daughter." Another soft smile. The guys around laughed. Becket seemed not that amused.

He reached out for her. Victor straightened out of reflex. If bub was going to touch her….

Becket stopped in his tracks, suddenly undetermined. "Stop harassing her, will you." Her tone was still friendly, but firmly at the same time. She returned to the counter. The men got back to their talk. The feral in the corner relaxed.

* * *

Half an hour later, things finally went wrong.

Completely drunk by now, the Becket guy grabbed the young help, trying to pull her down to his lap. The girl squealed. Alayna, for a single moment distracted, hurried around to avoid the worst. "Release her !" she ordered, her voice surprisingly strong and demanding at once. She dragged the girl away from the drunk in a determined movement, stepping between her and the man. Victor scowled. Asian brave heart didn´t look that scaring. The brute would easily be able to knock her over. She would never be able to stand her ground against that guy. Again, he tensed. Just in case.

"Leave!" she commanded. Becket only stared at her. The guy who owned the bar didn´t seem to be around that night. Things like that had been to be expected. "Who the hell do you think…" "Leave now", she interrupted his slowly muttered speech. She looked at the other men at the table. „Take him home, will you ?"

None of them moved or spoke. Her gaze returned to the drunken culprit. He suddenly seemed to sink down to himself. "He´s done anyway", she commented, watching the man crossing his arms in front of him, rubbing his upper arms with his hands as if he was freezing. For a silent moment, nobody talked.

Finally, one of the other men got up, sighing. "It´s alright, Ally, I´ll take him home." He threw some dollars to the table. She nodded, gesturing to the girl to return to the counter. Victor noted surprised that the Becket guy´s scent – well, more a stench – had changed remarkably. Mixed into the smells of cigarettes, alcohol and old sweat was – Victor raised an eyebrow – some kind of despair now. And – most definitely – fear.

"You´re going to pay for him, too ?" she asked, speaking again in that light relaxed tone. The man stared at her for a moment. Then, instead of paying the bill for his friend out of his own pocket, he reached out and snatched a bundle of bills out of the pocket of the drunken one´s shirt. He handed her the money, then decided to add another bill. "For the girl", he whispered, gesturing towards the counter. She nodded a thanks, then returned to the counter herself, pretending not to care about them any longer.

People around – all the rednecks had been watching eagerly – returned to their drinks and talks.

Alyana returned to the counter. The girl, Mellie, though struggling against it, was in tears. The Asian grabbed the towel and glass out of her hands, put them to the counter and hugged her. "Don´t let that asshole ruin your day", she whispered. "I am sorry", the younger one sobbed. What for ?" she asked back.

For an instance, Alayna watched him over the frail shoulder of the girl in her embrace. Their eyes locked. There was some frustration in her features, but not too much disturbance. She still looked quite calm. Stupid thing smiled to him. It made him remember how they had first met.

Then a tall guy approached the counter. Alayna padded Mellie´s shoulder and turned to him. "Shall I take you two home later on ?" he asked. Victor put his glass back to the table harder than necessary. "No. I´ll take her. We´ll be fine." He frowned. "I´ll accompany you two", he offered. "It´s not necessary, Miles." "I… " "No !" she interrupted firmly. "So may I take you out this Saturday ?" he asked, abruptly changing the subject. She threw him a wry look. "No", she answered quietly, stretching the small word as if he were dim witted. "Won´t the old gimp let you have any spare time ?" he asked. He obviously tried to provoke her but she didn´t do him the favour. "You know that I don´t date", she answered, gesturing to Mellie to stay at the counter. "And now excuse me – there are some thirsty people around." She headed for a table at the other end of the room. The guy watched her for a moment, then finally paid and left the bar.

Victor left only some minutes after that, absently leaving quite a tip. Mellie the help stared at his back realizing when he left. He didn´t care.

"I am sorry." "Nonsense." Alayana put her arm around the girl´s shoulders during their short walk home. "You did a great job. And Becket – well, you know him!" "I am not sure if this was such a good idea", Mellie said. Alayna suppressed a sigh. She had expected something like that, but Sam, the bar´s owner, hadn´t listened.

Suddenly, she turned round, staring down the dim lighted street behind them. "What ?" Mellie asked fearfully. Alayna listened hard for a moment. "Nothing", she then answered. "I am just weary."

She escorted the girl home, then headed for her own home and bed. The small town was completely quiet at this time of the night. She wasn´t scared. She knew most of the people around by now, and there were only a few she might not be able to handle. She watched around again, listening in for a moment. There was nothing unusual.

Still, things seemed suspiciously quiet.


	9. Chapter 9

**Please note :**

**This fanfiction contains violence, vilification and strong sexual contents! **

**If you don´t like it, please don´t read on!**

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**Short one...  
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She got up early the next morning, as usual. Danny was already awake, too.

"Good morning!" She tried deliberately to sound quite cheerful. "Morning", he muttered. "Oh don´t be that grumpy!" she said. He watched her preparing breakfast. "Not humming this morning ?" he asked. She only smiled. "Just still a little bit tired."

"You know, I might have an idea to solve your money problem." She served him a cup of coffee, glancing at him in surprise. He rarely mentioned that. He felt obviously uncomfortable to mention it right now, too. "Let´s hear", she encouraged him.

He put the cup he had just lifted down again. "Well, a friend of mine is looking for somebody to run his household." She served him the eggs. "I already run your household, man." Danny frowned. "Yeah. But this would be only temporarily." She put the pan away. "Temporarily ?" "Some months." She took a seat at the opposite side of the table. "And what will you do meanwhile ?" "Oh, I´ll manage." She threw him a wry look. "What kind of offer is this ?" she asked, distrustful. "I mean – what about the store? And besides – I don´t see how that´s going to solve my financial problems." "Well, he´d pay you generously, I think." She stared at him. "Danny – what is this about ? I won´t leave you here on your own." "I mean, why not ? You should really think about this!" "No !" she insisted.

Dan shrugged. "Why are you so pigheaded? You´ve been doing this for me for years!" "That´s different!" she contradicted. "Why ? As I am the poor disabled devil who rips up stranded girls ?" She raised one eyebrow. "Stop talking such a nonsense", she ordered, shaking her head. "I don´t see the difference", he stated. "The difference, blockhead, is, that I know you and that I like doing this for you! It´s one thing do this for a friend! It´s a completely different thing to do this for a stranger!" "I don´t even pay you for this!" "Yeah, and you don´t do that ´cause you´re giving me room and board for it!"

Dan sighed, putting his elbows on the kitchen table´s surface. "Look, babe, I think this is not the worst chance to get yourself some money. And you could finally tell Anderson to stop harassing you to take that babysitter job." "Heaven forbid!" she stated, grimacing at the thought of only trying to supervise that bunch of ill-bred little demons. "Though I don´t know if washing a stranger´s dirty socks is much better!" Dan grinned. "Well, they will probably still smell better than Anderson´s satanic breed – and they won´t call you names while staring at your tits." "Danny!" He only shrugged, grinning. "Just think about it. I mean it´s not forever!" It was her turn to sigh.

"So what kind of freak is that guy ?" she asked. "Why do you think he´s some kind of freak ?" he asked innocently. She smiled. "Come on, Danny, stop kidding me! Nobody pays much money to somebody for running the household. What´s wrong with him ? A virago around ? A bunch of horrible kids ? The guy´s unmarried and the mother´s always around ?"

"Well, I guess nothing of all that." She only grinned. It looked somehow out of place on her. "So what about him ? Is he some lunatic maniac ?" He only grinned. She wasn´t exactly right. But close.

She looked at the clock. "Wow!" Almost spilling the rest of her coffee, she got up. "Got to go, man, got to go." She smiled to him. "See ya for lunch!"


	10. Chapter 10

**Please note :**

**This fanfiction contains violence, vilification and strong sexual contents! **

**If you don´t like it, please don´t read on!**

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_**The island**_

_That first__ night passed like in a blur for her. _

_He took h__er to an abandoned showering room first, forcing her to undress and get under the water with him. _

_She didn´t__ understand why he would set up that kind of a foreplay, as it seemed to be unavoidable what would happen next. _

_He had lied about her to the other guy, he had also lied about the girl Wilson had been so enraged about when he had found out that she was gone. Actually, she had been brought to the infirmary in the early morning as she had suffered from convulsions and fever. The other girls had told her that it happened from time to time to her, and that she´d be fine within some days – well, as fine as you could get in here. _

_Still, he would rape her. Or worse. _

_She believed that she was going mad soon. Her mind was not willing to accept this kind of sick coincidence. Meeting _this_ man again. The man who had somehow missed to kill her last time they met, down into this sick prison. _

_He didn´t talk much, only threatened her out her clothes and under the water. That alone was enough to make her wish to die out of shame.__ He eyed up her body with a glance that made her blood run cold again, looking like he wasn´t sure if she´d been worth the effort to dispute with Wilson. Still, he barely touched her, taking care of himself, only grasping her wrist at some point to hand her the soap over. _

_She only stared at his back. He moved as relaxed and self-confident that that fact alone had been enough to impress her. __In combination with his powerful physique, he just looked fuckin´ terrifying. And in contrast to a guy like Dukes, he _knew_ he did._

_When they __finally left the shower room, he grabbed her neck. "Two things, darling. First, try to run and I´ll break your neck." He wasn´t willing to chase a fleeing bitch through half the base. It would be fun at one hand, but he wasn´t keen on letting the other guys witness that. Where and how he hunted was his own business._

"_Second, there are two ways to get through this. Obey and I´ll only take you. Disobey and I´ll _break _you." He released her with a light shove. Her eyes met his for a second and he chuckled. He needn´t to be psychic to read her thoughts right now. "Just imagine there_ is_ a difference. Will be the only consolation you´ll get." _

_They reached the door to his room. He shoved her in, locking the door behind them. He watched her body up and down, raising an eyebrow when his eyes locked again with hers. _

_The room was only dim lighted, but her eyes enabled her to see at this light level as good as in bright daylight. Concrete walls. Two beds, two small nightstands, two lockers, a small table, two chairs. No daylight. Not much personal stuff. _

_He turned to her, his eyes gleaming in a way she didn´t like. He forced her into a violent kiss. His fangs clicked against her own. A chuckle followed that. That deeply and menacing that she shivered immediately. He grabbed hold of her jaw. "Show me", he ordered. When he slightly raised the pressure, she lifted her upper lip a little bit, still hesitantly. He laughed appraisingly, more out of a habit then out of real amusement. Her fangs looked longer, but much frailer than his own and well hidden as long as she didn´t open her lips too far. He watched the half pointed ears for a moment. Echolocating. That was what Stryker had wanted her for. Still, she didn´t smell feral, not even with the smell of antiseptics and lab washed away. _

_He took a step forward. She tried to draw back out of instinct, and as he had been absent minded for a moment, she slipped out of his grip. He laughed at that. "There´s no way out, frail. Seems that we can catch up now what we skipped last time." He drew closer again, this time not stopping until she stumbled backwards against the frame of the bed. "Don´t do this", she begged. _

_He bit her lip, sharply, drawing blood. His hands slipped down her body. She felt his erection hard against her. It made her blush and feel sick and weak at once. He growled, lowly, deeply, absently enjoying the shiver that went through her body as a consequence. _

"_Undress", he ordered, again. She wanted to beg him to kill her__ here and now, as she didn´t believe that she wasn't going to be released anyway. Unfortunately, her mind just didn´t accept that fact either. There was hope. And she didn´t _want_ to die. _Nor _be raped. When she didn´t move, he grabbed her hair and forced her head back violently. "You collaborated so nicely last time, you know." She hated the canting tone he was speaking in. "Why not this time ?" He tugged at the hem of her shirt. "Get that stuff off. You won´t get new one if I´ll rip this." He raised his free hand, causing her immediately to flinch. Instead of slapping her, he only touched her cheek softly with the back of his hand. The gesture suggested quite clearly what a single slap of this hand would do to her. "I told you, darling. Two ways." He forced her further backwards until she stumbled over and fell down to the bed. _

_"Which one shall it be ?" _


	11. Chapter 11

**Please note :**

**This fanfiction contains violence, vilification and strong sexual contents! **

**If you don´t like it, please don´t read on!**

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**This time, a little less conversation, but a little more action - please!  
**

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She worked again at the bar, that night.

Again, he was there. Again, she refused to serve him herself, leaving it to the kid.

Also again, Miles asked her to accompany her home. When she declined, as usual, he asked her for a date, also as usual. He had been doing this for weeks. She finally dismissed him, as she always did.

This time, Becket overdid.

"Stop it or leave", Alayna told the man after another try to manhandle the girl. "You´re not Sam", Becket answered. "I won´t let a little Chinese bitch throw me out of here!" "I warned you last time! Hands off from the girl!" He got up from his chair, towering over her. Grabbing her slender wrist, he laughed. "Or what ?"

„Leave."

She had only whispered the word. Still, though he wasn´t able to see the man´s face, Victor could imagine the stunned expression on it. The guy´s scent had changed again from one second to another. A shiver rolled over his body.

Alayna watched Becket´s expression freeze. Then slowly change. He still kept hold of her wrist. It made it only easier. Just a little more…

"What the hell you´re doing, you…" He reached out to grab her by the hair.

Victor smashed the man´s face so hard against the tabletop that the wood creaked protestingly. Glass broke. He forced the drunken brute´s head back, just to repeat the procedure. This time, Becket screamed, struggling against the strong grip pinning him there. "Don´t – touch – the girl!"

Alayna stood next to them – stunned. She hadn´t even seen the movement with which the feral had crossed the distance between his table and Becket´s. Becket´s cronies looked equally stunned. None of them moved. Nobody tried to interfere. She realized that nobody dared.

She watched Victor loosen his grip. He glanced around, throwing despising looks at the cowards around. For a weird moment, he seemed to be only one just woken from a deep sleep - people around looked just paralyzed.

Finally, one of the other men around the table seemed to be brave enough to get up from his chair, at least. A short fang-revealing snarl was enough to make him forget about every bad idea he just had had in mind.

For a second, Creed entertained the idea of grabbing her by the hair himself. Kissing her right I front of them. Gettings things straight. None of them would ever touch the girl.

"Leave", she finally said. "All of you."

To her surprise, the feral relaxed. Stepped back. He left without another look at her or the men. Shoulders straight. At a measured step. Proud.

She might not want to witness – fine. But he wasn´t done with the guy. He smirked, mentally noting to continue with that little lesson another time. Idiot. A blind man would be able to see that she was a Vietnamese.

But something else had to be taken care of first.

* * *

Alayna sent somebody to wake up the doctor. Persuaded two of Becket´s buddies to get him there. Cleaned up the mess. Sent the again crying Mellie home with a friend.

For the first time ever, she shouted at Miles to leave her the hell alone.

At around two in the morning, she called it a day.

She had stayed behind to sweep the floor and take care of the used glasses. She closed the door, glancing over the silent white main street, nestling the keys out of the pocket of her jacket. Snow crunched under her shoes. She locked the door after her, heading home.

Halfway down the main street, somebody put a hand on her shoulder heavily. She flinched and stopped.

He dragged her in the nearby shadows of a vacant house next to them, cautiously forcing her against the crumbling plaster of the houses wall. They stared at each other, two pairs of night vision able eyes locking. He put his palms against the wall right and left from here, bending his head to kiss her. "Don´t!" She turned her head, away from his face.

He placed a soft kiss right under her cheek, where her jaw went over into her neck. His left hand caressed the outline of a half pointed ear. She grabbed his wrist. "Please, Victor", she muttered. "Stop." "Really want me to leave ?", he whispered into her ear, intoxicated by the scent of her hair and skin. The deep and somehow raspy voice sent a shiver done her spine. "Yes", she said. Calmly. Firmly. He smirked, but didn´t comment. She wasn´t as submissive as she had been when they had met the last time. Well, fair enough. "Kiss me", he demanded. She stared at him in disbelief. "Get lost!" she whispered.

He grabbed her neck in a supernatural quick move and she flinched, fearing him to bite her. But he only placed another soft his kiss on her neck before he released her. "Then go", he whispered. He took a step backwards, releasing her.

She left, avoiding to look back.


	12. Chapter 12

**Please note :**

**This fanfiction contains violence, vilification and strong sexual contents! **

**If you don´t like it, please don´t read on!**

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**`author´s note´****  
**

**I considered this chapter for a while, and though you might all have been longingly waiting for some sex ( I am too ;-) ), I finally decided NOT to do a raping scene. There are undoubtedly lots of dark and tantalizing ideas to have about getting entangled with Victor Creed. Still, I think we´re all favouring the idea of being seduced by a man like him (even if it´s done the feral way ;-) ) instead of really raped. As I not even wanted to spend too much time imagining it, I also considered to skip all the flashbacks and do a completely different story.**

**Fortunately, the idea of using the flashbacks was just that tempting that I decided to go ahead and deal with their first night later on – and in some way at least I myself could accept.**

**I really hope you won´t be too disappointed - so I hope for your apprehension with this – and there will be enough time for all the other really delightful things later on ;-)**

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**Thanks for reviewing - I really really appreciate it!  
**

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_She woke hours later, feeling wrecked.__ The realization that she was still with him, uncovered, unprotected from his gaze and touch, cramped against his body in a much too small bed, made her blush again immediately. Memory returned to her without remorse. _

_He breathed steadily, but something told her that he wasn´t asleep. She didn´t dare to turn and find out or to try and get up. So instead, she only shifted her weight a little to bring her aching body in a more comfortable position. _

_In some way, she felt guilty for not having tried to fight him.__ He had clearly expected that she would at least try. And she didn´t doubt that he would have silenced her one way or the other if she had tried._

_God knows__, she was everything else than a virgin. Still, compared to a lot of the girls she had worked with over the years, who seemed to be quite obsessed to collect as many notches to their bedposts as possible, she´d led a rather quiet life. _

_Actually, she had found herself luckily not very often in situations where she had had to fear being raped. Fortunately – it had never happened before. Still, two times, it had been close. She had been beaten up back then – and she had quite an idea what a man like Creed could have done – or would still be able to do - to her, and yet with the slightest effort. _

_He didn´t seem to seek for the sick part of __physically forcing her to sex. He had expected her to fight him, but didn´t seem to have __**wanted **__her to do so. Well, considering that he was blessed with a supernaturally sensitive sense of hearing, he wouldn't be to keen on women shrieking and squealing next to him – understandable for her. Besides that – it would just have been pointless to try anyway. Physically, she would simply never be able to fight or resist him._

_Though she hadn´t given much on it the night before – and was still not doing that –__ he had followed his own sick rules. He had been looking for the relief – not for the rape. As long as she had submitted, there had been no reason to `break´ her. _

_He hadn´t mistreated her as badly as she had feared he would. Hadn´t beaten her. _

_Still, rape stayed rape, no matter if she´d been forced by words or physical violence. _

_Still, he was a feral. His fangs and claws left marks. And still, he had taken what he wanted. _

_On the other hand - __she was alive. Her body might ache now, but in some hours, the physical damage would have healed._

_She didn´t dare to think about what all this would do to her soul. _

_* * *_

_When he brought her back to her cell later on, she felt numb inside. The other women threw her sympathetic looks, but as she wouldn´t say much, they didn´t ask__, either. She curled up on her cot, dead tired and exhausted, and for the first time in her life, feeling really really old. _

_At least for this night, __she had survived._


	13. Chapter 13

**Please note :**

**This fanfiction contains violence, vilification and strong sexual contents! **

**If you don´t like it, please don´t read on!**

**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
**

_In the long run, submitting to him might still have been the wrong decision. It became soon quite obvious that he wasn´t keen on violating a new struggling and screaming victim every night. _

_Things got into some kind of sick routine._

_He picked her up. They went for a shower. They spent the night together - if one might have called it like that._

_The tactic of not fighting him kept working – or kept her relatively safe at least. There was not much talk. Though it didn´t take much to find out that the animal´s body sheltered a badly cynical soul._

_As she had acted according to his wishes once, he retained picking her._

_He obviously didn´t worry that his company would dare and try to escape or to hurt him during the night. She could feel him falling asleep, but realized quickly that the slightest move would wake him. She didn´t want to annoy him, but the bed was just too small. There was barely enough space for him alone – not to mention for both of them._

_He could have sent her to the second bed at the other side of the room for the rest of the night – or just have her thrown out of his own, leaving it to her how and where in the room she would spend the night. He could have taken her back to her cell._

_In fact, she would have appreciated that. But he didn´t._

_Alayna had to realize that she had really hit the jackpot – becoming the feral mutant´s favourite._

_* * *  
_

_When he picked her up two weeks after their first night, he was different._

_She wouldn´t have needed any empathic talent to realize that he was obviously badly pissed by something, not speaking a single word. He wouldn´t even give her the usual threats._

_Despite his bad mood, he eyed her up critically in the dim light of the shower room. There were still bruises and bitemarks left from their last shared night, though they had started to fade. Her healing ability worked much slower than his own, still much faster than a normal human one´s._

_Looking more fearful this night, she avoided his eyes, remained silent. Well, he could settle for that._

_Pinned between the tiled wall at her back and his body, she felt quite uncomfortable. She had felt bad the whole day after a short anesthesia in the morning. The small space of her cell had unnerved her. The uncertainty scared her. In addition to all that, going with him had let her miss the second of the two daily meals they got for the last two days. Because of the narcosis in the morning, she hadn´t been allowed to have breakfast. Now she was hungry like hell. It slowed down her healing. It made it difficult to keep control._

_Having an ferociously bad tempered feral around didn´t make things better._

_In difference to the last times, he suddenly pressed her against the shower´s wall behind her and kissed her possessively, his fangs cutting her lips. The sudden attack made her flinch and squeal. Claws angrily scratched her neck. She felt adrenaline flood her blood._

_It just happened. Her mind simply stepped back and watched. She pressed her palms against his chest in a sudden attempt to defend herself._

_The impact of her concentrated emotional energy hit him almost like a heavy blow against the chest._

_Panicking, she produced a silent cry at the same time that made him feel as if his hearing would explode. For once, his oversensitive hearing proved as a disadvantage. Her cry wouldn´t have been even perceptible for an ordinary human._

_She felt immediately that things went wrong. She wasn´t able to block out his emotions. They swept over her like a shockwave, filling her mind and body, at the same time causing her to double her efforts to fight him._

_Instinctively, he pushed her back. Her head got knocked against the wall behind her._

_Her field of vision narrowed. The sounds around her seemed to die away. Claws extending, she heard herself giving a strange sound somewhere between a hiss and a gasp, baring her teeth at him. She was on the verge to faint._

_He struck a blow into her stomach. She slumped down to the ground._

_* * *_

_Victor realized that his own adrenaline level was as high as hers. He stared down at her, stunned. He wasn´t even sure if she had really touched him. He still felt dazed._

_He picked her up, grabbing her throat and pinning her against the wall, not caring for the water that still poured down on them. "What did you do !" he barked. She gasped for air. "Sorry", she croaked. "What did you do !" he roared._

_She felt her limbs go numb. Redeeming unconsciousness drew closer._

_* * *_

_Minutes later, he slammed the door of his room behind them, dropping her on the bed. She had tried, but simply hadn´t been able to stand or walk. As a consequence, he had carried her as easily as he´d have carried a child. Now, she was just awaiting the worst. "What the hell happened ?" he snapped. "Don´t tell them !" she whispered. His eyes narrowed. „Stryker doesn´t know ?" She shook her head. He considered that for a moment. She remained silent, staring into nowhere. "That kind of thing is not one of the usual gifts of a batgirl, right ?" Her stomach produced a kind of rumbling. He suddenly realized that she actually didn´t stare into nowhere but at the tray on the table that contained the remains of a hurried snack. "Are you telling me they _missed_ it ?" He took a step towards her. "Answer me!" he roared. Flinching, she draw back to the wall in her back._

_He suddenly caught up with the whole thing. The unhealed bitemarks on her neck. The weakness he could almost feel._

_He moved so quickly that she completely missed it. He grabbed her throat again and she squealed. Ignoring it, he searched for her pulse. There it was. Too fast. Unsteady. "When did you last eat ?" he asked, loosening his grip, but eyeing her up once again. "Yesterday morning", she whispered. He slowly realized that she might have missed several meals within the last days. Releasing her, he gestured towards the table. "Eat." She glanced at him, unsure for a moment, but didn´t hesitate longer than. Stumbling over, she sank down to the chair in front of the tray. The half eaten sandwich couldn´t have tasted any better._

_He stepped behind her while she finished a second energy bar. Her stomach cramped for a moment. He noticed that she even forgot to flinch for once when his fingertips touched her neck._

_She finished everything of what he had left. Well, admittedly, he hadn´t left much. Afterwards, she lowered her head, feeling uncomfortable. "Thanks", she whispered. He moved, picking the second chair and turning it. He sat down, resting his forearms on the backrest in front of him. "How came that nobody noticed that ?" he asked, still distrusting. She shrugged, unsure where to look. Unsure if he would give her away. "I don't know", she answered honestly. "Nobody asked for that. I mean, they __knew about the echolocating thing and the hearing and all that. Nobody asked for the empathy. It´s not that strong." He frowned, suspicious. "You read thoughts ?" She shook her head, absently rubbing her naked arms. She was still only covered by the towel he had thrown her before he had dragged her here. "No. I can´t read thoughts. It´s an emotional thing. I am perceptive for them. I somehow concentrate emotional power." Finally, she looked at him. "You´re going to tell them ?" He stared at her for a moment. Then he nodded to the bed. "Get over there."_

_He watched her getting up and walking over. In front of the bed, she stopped, hesitating. "What ?" he snapped, staring at her slim figure, watching her shiver. She wore that towel like an armour, still wet strands of black hair falling over her frail shoulders. Finally, her weakness won. She let the towel slip to her feet and hurried under the blanket. He growled. The whole day had been a fuckin´ mess. Considering her constitution, she would probably collapse if he laid her now. There was no fun in fucking dead meat. Still, this latest discovery – especially if it was true that Stryker had really missed something like this - was at least interesting._

_* * *_

_When he brought her back to the cell block the other morning, the girl in the cell next to her gasped at her sight. He only grinned, shoving her in. He despised them for their show of sympathy for her. Bad luck for her that - in contrary to Wilson´s chicks - none of the females around had ever offered to accompany him as compensation to spare another girl the harm. She didn´t turn to him, just went to her bed and sank down. Her face was white as a ghost´s. She was still weak. His grin broadened. Regarding the fact that he had barely touched her last night, she looked worse than ever. Should the other ones imagine all the nice little things he might have done to her._


	14. Note : playlist

Like I did for my first Victor fanfic „Breakout", I´d like to announce the highlights of the "official playlist" I listened to writing this one – again, it´s been at least really surprising for me ;-)

Musical credits go to :

**Tenacious D** – Tribute

**Madonna** – Beautiful Stranger

**Roxette** – Queen of rain

* * *

**Rammstein** – Feuer frei

**Drowning Pool **– Bodies

**Queens of the Stone Age** – Millionaire

- - - from the motion picture soundtrack XXX - - -

* * *

**Ruby Gloom** – **Misery** – `train wreck song´

**Ruby Gloom** – **Frank and Len** - lullaby

**Special thanks** to Deidra Belladonna for introducing Ruby Gloom and the other lovely dark inhabitants of Gloomsville to me – I think we would really have appreciated something like that back in our days of youth - it might have spared us the Smurfette trauma ;-)


	15. Chapter 15

Back to her flat, she hurried to the bathroom. The only two things she wanted right now were a hot shower and going to bed.

But when she entered the bathroom and looked at the shower, she stopped in her tracks. She decided against the shower suddenly. The mere thought of it – even after dismissing him – brought memories up that she had tried to bury years before. As deep as she could. But obviously not deep enough.

* * *

When she returned from the store next evening, she dropped her keys in front of the entrance door. She cursed. The whole day had been a mess, and things didn´t seem to get better. Sighing, she set all the bags she had been wearing down and grabbed the key. She knocked her elbow painfully against the doors frame when she entered, biting her lip to suppress another cussword.

"Ally, ´s that you ?" Regarding that she was supposed to meet that ominous job offering friend of Dan´s tonight, she suppressed a cynical answer. "Who else should it be", she muttered resignedly under her breath. There was nobody else with a fuckin´ key for the house around. "Yeah, it´s me", she answered. She dropped one of the bags accidentally. Apples rolled to all directions. She set the rest of the bags down again with a frustrated sigh.

She looked down at her. Her shirt and jeans were smeared with something she suspected to be melt chocolate – in the best case. She had again failed to restrain that bunch of freakin´ children. Her hair looked stringy. She was barely able to endure her own smell. Well, she hadn´t been keen on taking that job anyway. Not caring for the apples, she left the bags and headed for the kitchen.

"Were you holding a bowling contest at the hall ?" Danny asked when she entered. "Well, you could have offered to give me a hand with…" Her voice broke. "So, Ally, this is Victor! As I told you, he…" Danny stopped talking when he realized the look on her face. "Ally ?"

She couldn´t do other than stare at the massively built brute sitting at the kitchen table, grabbing a bottle of beer with one hand. This was impossible. "Ally ?" Danny seemed to be calling her name from far away. She just couldn´t avert her eyes from the mutant in front of her. Well, there was no doubt.

"Ally, would you say hi ?" Danny asked, sounding surprised but finally slightly pissed, too. "Hi", she whispered, still staring. Like in trance, she turned to Danny. "I won´t do it", she simply stated. Then she left, ignoring Danny`s angry calls to stay.

* * *

"Alayna!" She had just reached the top of the outside stair leading to her flat. Danny breathed heavily from hurrying after her, clearly disadvantaged to follow her as for his stiff leg. "What the hell´s wrong with you ?" he asked. "I mean, what was that about ?" She sighed. "Stop shouting!" she answered, returning to the foot of the stair to spare him climbing up to her.

"He might look a little…" "Stop giving me that !" she interrupted. " "Layna, he just…" "Stop whispering, Danny", she interrupted him again. "He´s a feral. He´ll be able to hear you anyway!" "How do you know ?" he asked, stunned. "_How do I know ?"_ she echoed. "Have you ever had a look at him ?" He stared at her. "But you´re also…" She gestured to him to stop and tapped at the side of her nose. "Feral!" she confirmed lowly. "I may have a kind of animalistic mutation, but this one´s different." "Well, I didn´t ask you to marry him!" Danny started.

"Right", she nodded, suddenly feeling very tired. "You just somehow forgot to tell me that you want me to do the dishes for a _killer_!" For a moment, the man looked just stunned. He was obviously tempted to pretend innocence for a moment, then seemed to realize that she wouldn´t buy it anyway.

She didn´t shout. She did that rarely. But he knew to interpret the tone of her voice. Right now, she sounded quite resolute. She was not musing – she _knew_.

"I didn´t know that you know each other, he finally said lamely. "Same goes for me", she stated.

They looked at each other, close friends who had been sharing a house and a life for years - each of them wondering about the other one´s unexpected secrets. "Don´t ask", she finally answered. "I´m just surprised that you asked me to live under one roof with a merc. Even temporarely." She turned.

"He´s resigned years ago", Danny said. She stopped in her tracks, turning her head to face him again. "So he´s killing for fun now ?" He ignored that question. "He needs to lay low for a while. I wouldn´t have suggested this if I had the smallest doubt about your safety, Ally. Consider it, I beg you. Three months and you´d be out over the worst. It will take you years to get the money otherwise. I mean…I know that it´s hard for you to…" He desperately searched for the right formulation. "To use this…ability and everything, but… " The changed expression on her face silenced him. "Danny, you´re human. I know how badly traumatizing the things were that you witnessed. Don´t get me wrong. But he is a mutant. A feral. Very old. And very strong." _A gifted killer, besides all that_, she added silently.

She grabbed his forearm that firmly that he looked down at her small hand, surprised. "You have no idea what you´re asking for, Danny." She shook her head. "You have no idea what it means to get in touch with a mind like his." "Where do you know him from ?" he asked back, suddenly concern ringing through his voice. She only sighed. "Look, Danny, it´s your business with whom you´re making friends. But I can´t do this. And if he´s going to stay around here, I´ll leave." She abandoned him there at the bottom of the stairs, not looking back.

* * *

She entered the bar an hour later, still feeling frustrated. She had a short chat with Liz, then headed for the counter, greeting the owner, Sam, with a smile. She was going to look through the different bottles behind the counter to see what they would probably run out soon, but the older man interrupted her.

"Ally, we need to talk." She turned to him, surprised how seriously he sounded. "Something´s off ?" she asked. He nodded. She suppressed a sigh, mentally preparing for whatever this goddamn day would bring next. "Sam, if this is about Becket and Mellie, I _told_ you…" "This is actually not exactly about Becket and Mellie", he interrupted her harshly. "This is more about Becket and that…._admirer_ of yours." "That _what_ ?" she asked quietly. "I don´t even _know_ the guy!" "Girl, I am sorry, but I don´t want you to work here anymore." For a moment, she only stared at him. "You´re kidding`", she muttered then. "See, I can´t let some freak scare my guests away, and Becket´s been visiting for years…" "And I have been working here for years and quarrelled with the guy for years, and it never made him stay away! Liz will never be able to manage this alone!" There had been worse incidents and brawls before – this was just ridiculous.

"Have you heard about Miles ?" he asked, suddenly changing the topic. "What are you talking about ?" she asked. "He´s been…beaten up, last night. Mugged, they say." "Mugged ?" Nobody got mugged around here – as everybody knew that people around her didn´t carry around anything worth to be stolen from them, regularly. A thief would simply go bust around here. "Somebody beat him up badly, girl." She wondered what was wrong the last days that nobody had told her about this, again. It surely was the talk of town. "And if you ask me, that bears _somebody´s_ signature." She wondered for a moment how he could judge that, as he hadn´t even been here the night in question.

He softly grabbed her wrist and put some bills into her palm – the salary he owed her. "I am sorry. Whatever you´ve gotten yourself into there, girl, I hope you know what you´re doing." Alayna stared at the man in front of her. Something was wrong, badly and most definitely wrong. "Liz !" she called. Sam shifted his weight, getting obviously quite uncomfortable. "Liz, come over here!" Alayna repeated. The redheaded woman followed the request, only questioningly raising her eyebrows. When she reached them, she stared at the two of them, their faces and composure obviously speaking volumes. "What is it ?" she asked, wary. "Ally", Sam started, "just let´s get this…" She ignored him, turning to her friend. "Sam just fired me", she said. Liz looked from Alayna to Sam and back. "You´re kiddin` ?" she asked, in the same disbelieving way Alayna herself had asked moments before. She even stopped chewing that ever present chewing gum of hers. Alayna took the empty tray out of her hand and handed her the money instead. "What the hell´s that for ?" the woman asked, staring at the bills. Alayna turned to Sam. "Looks like you just got a pay raise", she stated. Then she left.

She hurried out of the backdoor, feeling bitterly betrayed. The biting cold air outside made her face and hands hurt immediately, but she didn´t care. Hot tears rolled down her cheeks. This was just unfair. And simply too much for one day.

She feared that _he_ would be waiting around for her somewhere, to perfect the day. It would be simply the last thing she needed right now. And she was afraid that she wouldn´t be able to handle that – him – today as well.

* * *

When Danny entered the kitchen next morning, breakfast was already waiting. He looked from the table to Alayna and back. "What the…" "I´m going to do some inventory today", she informed him. "So I wanted to leave early." He looked at her suspiciously. "What´s wrong ?" he asked. "You were back early last night." She took a deep breath. "Nothing´s wrong. There was a misunderstanding with Liz, that´s all." "You´re a bad liar." "Don´t be silly." It didn´t sound only the slightest bit of convincing. "See ya later." She brushed his cheek with a kiss, grabbing her jacket from the chair next to the door, and left. He stared at the doorframe through which she had just disappeared – stunned.

After all, he came over to help her at the store later on that day, suggesting she should take the day off. She declined. He had obviously heard up to then about Sam throwing her out, but was thankfully smart enough not to ask questions. Though she knew that he would ask her about it sooner or later.

At some time close to noon, he heard the bell besides the door rang, announcing another client. A second later, Alayna shot through the door that lead from the storage room to the store. "What the…" She just left without a word, not even taking a jacket or something else to cover herself with her. Though completely silent, the look on her face declared the intention to kill somebody – _here and now_. In fact, he had never seen a look like that on her before.

Sighing, he limped over to the shop floor. Admittedly, he wasn´t that surprised to face Victor there. "I didn´t even said something", the feral mentioned, his hands up in a defending gesture. Danny sighed. "You know, you always had _quite_ an effect on women", the veteran stated.

* * *

Alayna tried to ignore the knocking at her door, pretending – though if only to herself – that she hadn´t heard it over the sound of the record she had put on for some distraction. Danny hadn´t come home for lunch, granting her some privacy. Now, it was finally time for dinner. As she had to keep herself busy somehow, she had prepared something for him, but he was obviously not willing to let her avoid him like this and eat it alone. Another knock. The guy could be really adamant. "Get in ", she called, sighing. The door wasn't locked anyway. She dropped the jeans she had been trying to stitch to the bed.

The small bedroom was only separated by a thin boarding from the rest of the small flat.

Entering the main room, she stopped in her tracks. It hadn´t been Danny whom she had invited to enter.

Victor was barely able to stand upright up here. He glanced around for a moment. Everything around looked a little ragged, the furniture as well as everything personal. His eyes went over to her when she entered.

She was wearing jeans and obviously two pairs of woollen socks, as well as an oversized looking turtleneck sweater. He realized that it wasn´t really warm up here. Though she should theoretically have been able to profit from the warmth ascending from the house beneath, the attic lacked obviously any kind of thermal insulation. He mused that only her healing factor allowed her to make it through the nights up here without catching a bad cold – at least. And as the many stairs up to her were surely hard to manage for Danny, he wouldn´t have come up here more than a few times over the last years. He had possibly never realized how uncomfortable this place was. And for some stubborn cause, the girl had probably even insisted to keep that little privacy of hers. It caused Victor to frown. Bats might like to spend their nights sleeping upside down at drafty lofts, but he mused that she wouldn´t insist on _that_ particular part.

"What are _you_ doing here ?" she asked. "You told me to get in, remember ?" She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I expected Danny." She sounded unpleasantly surprised, but not too angry, in fact. "What did the poor fellow do to you that you´d let him take him the journey up here to visit you ?" he asked.

"You haven´t given me the chance to let me explain my offer to you so far", he said when she remained silent. She looked just sweet and fragile and lovely girlish in that oversized sweater. He eyed up her thin face. The straight line of her sweet little nose, the small soft mouth, though her lips were pressed together a little bit too hard right now. The huge dark eyes. They were what had always fascinated him most.

"I told you I won´t do it." He nodded, glancing around for a second time. "You should consider it at least." "There´s nothin´ to consider." The words were spoken hastily. "Listen to me", he insisted. "I need to lay low for a short while. I want you to cook some meals and take care of the house for three months, one grand a month. If nothing unexpected happens, that´s everything required. And as it seems that you´re in need of some money…" "Who the hell do you think you are ?" she hissed lowly. "Do you think I believe a single word of this ? Do you _really_ think I´ll believe that you only want your laundry done ? Or that yesterday´s show was part of your tactic of _laying low_ ? You´re really bad news, Creed! And I wonder how it is that my world is coming down around me every time I meet you."

He only watched her, the beginning of a mocking smile on his face. "Blame me for the things I actually did to you, but not for the shit you´ve gotten yourself into on your own", he answered calmly. "Leave", she ordered. "Are you going to make a habit of throwing me out every time I try to help you ?" he asked, sounding slightly amused. "I hate you", she simply answered. "Just the way I like it." "Get out!" "Think about it", he advised her. "Get the hell out of here!" she yelled. He only grinned, turning to leave. He stopped at the door. "You know, my offer also includes a place where you wouldn´t have to freeze to death at night." She got the suggestively formulated message quite clearly. "Close the door behind you if you don't mind", she whispered.


	16. Chapter 16

**Please note :**

**This fanfiction contains violence, vilification and strong sexual contents! **

**If you don´t like it, please don´t read on!**

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**Thanks for the reviews, thanks for sticking around again! This chapter took some time, but I hope it was worth the effort! Enjoy!  
**

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_"Are we in a bad mood today ?" Wilson teased. He caught up with his favourite hotheaded teasing victim on the way to the cells. Victor didn´t answer – only growled. "Still not getting the reward you´re so keen on ?God, Stryker can be such a bastard." Scornfulness dripped from his voice. "And now you´re going to let the poor girl…" He couldn´t end the sentence as Victor had grabbed his shirt and slammed him against the wall behind him. Though Wade felt usually badly awkward without his swords, he was glad not to wear the katana holster right now. They would expectably have dugged rather into his back than into the wall behind him.  
_

_He was used to Victor´s temper tantrum´s, not at least as he liked to provoke them himself. But as the feral was obviously already infuriated to the point where he´d refuse to talk, but only snarl and growl, he decided not to press the matter for the moment. The only step left was bloodshed now. And as he was looking forward to some dinner and maybe a chick or two later on…and to enjoy all that, he needed to be still alive._

_Provoking the feral was only fun if there was still some work to do left – definitely _no_ fun if somebody else had already done the job and he´d only have to take the rap for it._

_* * *_

_One of the guards made the mistake to step into Creed´s way._

_"Major Stryker…"_

_Victor didn´t care a second for the man. One strike was enough to silence him. The impact carried the man off his feet. He turned to the second guard, honestly hoping that the guy would refuse to hand over the access card for the cells to him. Regrettably, this one was cleverer than his companion, handing him the card without a word. Coward, besides._

_Alayna was already on her feet. Painfully aware of the looks the other women sent her, she studied his face for a moment. This looked bad._

_He had been in that dark mood most of the time recently. And things seemed still to get worse. It had started only days after that little incident at the showers. If he had ever been interested in that ability of hers - or anything about her - he had definitely lost any interest in it by now._

_He barely spoke a word on their way to the showers. Well, she knew the procedure, so there was not much to say. Slamming the door behind them, he only ordered her to get a shower of her own. His hair looked still wet and he smelled slightly of soap and water – he had obviously just had one. It meant that she would have to get rid of her clothes and have that shower with the guy watching – something she was definitely not keen on. Well, still, she wasn´t keen on watching him having a shower right after a mission – getting rid of everything he or his clothes might have been sprayed or soaked with - either._

_She turned her back to him and started to undress, getting under the hot water after that. Usually, he would lean back against the wall and watch her, thick muscled arms crossed in front of his chest, slightly interested like a predator amusedly watching the innocent doing of a due prey. Lurking._

_This night, he was restless, restless enough to start pacing around. Impatient. She hurried – better not to annoy him any more – but he didn´t seem to care much about her presence anyway. His mind was obviously occupied with other things. And, honestly, she doubted that sex or the possible sexual relief would help him with whatever drove him that furious._

_He didn´t even grab her arm or neck when they went over to his room. Nor did he lock the door behind them._

_She had entered the room first, as usual. He stopped only some steps from the door. When she realized that he didn´t follow her, she turned._

_She had never felt like the typical feral mutant, despite the animalistic parts of her mutation. She was just not tall enough or strong enough, her claws and teeth too fragile to cause real harm. Still, though there should at least have been some talents of a hunter inside her. Right now, she only realized clearly how prey might feel. _

_Adrenaline flooded her body at the sight of his face and the extended claws. His whole posture cried for bloodshed. He looked like ready to pounce. The sudden change in her scent only caused him to reveal his fangs completely._

_There was no way to cover or to hide here. If he was going to slaughter her, there was nothing that would stop or even thwart him. Seconds passed. She even felt the kind of immobility of quarry brought to bay._

_She flinched and almost squealed when somebody knocked at the door._

_Victor turned in an ill boding slow movement._

_"What the hell is it ?" he roared. The soldier outside, one of the several faceless guards, had barely opened the door. The man´s face whitened. "Major Stryker expects you at his office, Sir. 19:30." Victor stared at the guy. The guard shifted his weight uncomfortably, his eyes wandering over to Alayna, who stood motionless, only wrapped in a towel. "Something else ?" Victor asked. His eyes narrowed. His dark tone made the man draw back a little. The soldier gulped. "Excuse me, Sir, but you had no permission to…" The man broke of at the sight of the feral, carefully stretching the muscles of his neck and shoulders. For a second, Alayna admired the coolness he could still handle to scare the man away with. "Are you really going to discuss permissions with me ?" he asked lowly. The man seemed somehow to shrink. He shook his head. "Is that what you´re calling a decent answer, man !" Victor roared. The sudden shouting made the man flinch, but straighten. "No, Sir!" "Then never ever dare to approach me like this again and __leave !" The guard hurried to close the door behind him._

_She didn't dare to move, the sudden force and level of his voice still hurting in her ears. She could smell, almost feel the adrenaline rushing through his veins – and to her horror, actually see the tremor of his muscles._

_She flinched again when the wooden table crashed against the opposite wall. Wood splintered. He only stood, breathing deeply, fiercely but vainly trying to regain control. The way he breathed, the way he moved told clearly that he wouldn´t succeed – not without a decent amount of damage, havoc or bloodshed. She looked at the clock. Less than half an hour left for him._

_For her._

_She gritted her teeth for a moment. At some points in life, one had to take decisions. Unfortunately, she was not that good about taking the right ones._

_"You need to calm down." She didn´t like how squawking her voice sounded in her own ears._

_He turned his head to look at her. For a moment, he looked like he´d completely forgotten that she was still there. Meeting his eyes, she wondered suddenly if this had really been a good idea. He drew closer, his face mask-like._

_"I can…assist you with that."_

_For some moments, he didn't react to her words, his gaze fixed on her._

_Then he crossed the distance between them, that fast that she again didn´t realize the movement. He grabbed a handful of her hair, forcing her head back a little. "Are you offering me __help ?" he asked lowly. She felt a slight wave of panic wash over her. "I offer you to settle the turmoil", she answered. "By what ?" he whispered. "Letting me slash you and spread your guts all over the room ?" She pressed her lips together for a moment, hoping that she didn´t overestimate her cleverness. "Don´t think I´ll do it for nothing", she hissed then. He let go of her hair, but his claws only wandered down to the back of her neck, resting there to force the answer to his next question out of her if she´d try to refuse it. "And what the hell do you think you could ask me for ?"_

_* * *_

_She closed her eyes and took a deep breath when he turned away from her._

_"Sit down." She tried hard to sound calm. Still, her voice sounded shaken. She gestured towards the bed. He threw her a dark look. "Sit", she begged. "I have to. I´ll maybe faint."_

_He followed that, sitting down there, resting his back against the wall. It was obvious that the last thing he wanted to do right now was sitting still. She slowly followed and, after a short moment of hesitation, climbed to his lap, astride his legs. All nerves in her body told her to run instead of getting closer to him._

_"I´ll need a moment to focus", she whispered. He only stared at her. She took a deep breath. She hadn´t done this for quite a while. But actually, his silent observation made her more nervous than the thought of a possible failure. He was still angry as shit. Seething right under the surface._

_Suddenly, claws dug into the skin of her neck. She looked up to him. "Fuck this up and I´ll kill you", he told her under his breath. She felt a shiver all over her skin. This hadn´t been a threat, but a promise. Just the encouragement she needed. Trying to ignore his words and to control her emotions as he would notice every bit of shakiness in her scent, she closed her eyes._

_She placed her hands against his chest, right where she could touch bare skin._

_He stared down at her bent neck and shoulders, waiting for something to happen._

_It took some seconds. "Let me in", she muttered under her breath, for an instance fearing that she wouldn´t be able to gain access._

_Then the might of his emotions hit her unprepared._

_Her head jerked back, her eyes wide open and blank. At first, she felt like hit by a brutal blow. Pure ferocity made her gasp. It took her a breathless moment to fight back the panic. Then, when she finally thought she would loose the battle, she realized that she started to distinguish._

_Anger and pain flooded her mind. She was hit by lust. Almost torn apart by the struggle for acceptance, dominance, respect. An unlimited urge for freedom told her body to run, to flee, to tear everybody and everything getting in his way apart– by all means. Superiority towards an obviously half blind and constantly absent-minded environment. Disdain for the weakness of them. As they shared a comparatively oversensitive sense of hearing and smelling, it was not so much the sheer occurrence, but the intensity of his feelings that struck her._

_Stunned, he watched her body convulse in agony for a moment. Her pulse quickened alarmingly, so did her breathing. For an instance, she seemed to sag, only held upright by his hands. Then, her head still bent backwards, her lips parted, her eyes widened further. For an instance, he could only see the white in them. It took a second until he realized that she looked haunted._

_Then she lowered her head, slowly. Meeting his eyes, hers glinting pools of jet black darkness. Gleaming. Hard._

_Her body straightened. So did her mind._

_He could almost watch her struggle against that demon. Against **him.** Her palms pressed against his chest as if to force the animal back into its cage. It felt like somebody dragged at that block of hate and rage inside of him. Softly. But firmly._

_An instance later, it was his turn to be hit. There was some kind of impact, though he couldn´t feel it physically this time. Still, he felt some kind of presence. Calming. Soothing. Slowly slacking the fire. For an instance, he failed to suppress the loathing against somebody messing with his mind. Anger rose again, making her squeal._

_She made a stand. And for a moment, there seemed to be some kind of standoff. Ferocity against gentleness. She mentally staggered - but didn´t give way. It didn´t even feel like resistance – more like something soft but unshakable, braving the storm. Tardily, the turmoil died down._

_With a sound between a gasp and a sob, she withdraw her hands. The connection broke. To his astonishment, he felt strangely abandoned for a moment. His skin burned where her hands had left him. He felt somehow tired and a light headache – that was all. He threw a look at the watch on the nightstand. 19:15. The whole thing hadn´t taken longer then some minutes._

_He listened in on his own for a moment. There was a small rest of enragement somewhere – but it felt somehow used up and faded. He actually didn´t felt good. But clearly composed. And that would be more than enough._

_Preparing to get up led his attention back to her._

_A short glance was enough to realize that she hadn´t made it that good. The effort had left her exhausted. Her body felt like all the bones had gone missing somehow. She trembled heavily, her skin of a pale shade near to transparency now. He smelled tears._

_He ignored the short sting of concern. She had offered this, and she had named the price. He wasn´t to blame if she had underestimated things._

_He made her lay back to the bed, getting up. She barely seemed to realize when he left._

_He was back a minute later. She hadn´t moved. Scowling at her, he put a handful of energy bars on the nightstand and grabbed the wet towel she´d been wrapped in. He let it drop to the floor and threw a blanket over her before he left. He locked the door behind him. This time, more to prevent people from getting in than her from getting out._

_* * *_

_She woke hours later, with a start. For some seconds, she panicked, as she was without orientation first. He reached out for her. Mixed feelings filled her mind. At one hand, she felt more secure as soon as she realized that she wasn´t lost and alone. At the other hand, she was right back into the nightmare._

_He forced her back against his body. She felt weak and drained and didn´t struggle. She realized that she wore an overlarge jacket – obviously one of his. Regarding the fact that she wore nothing else, she was grateful. She gave a wince of pain when she moved her head. The pain told her that her mind still tried to get out of her system what she´d forced in earlier. Well, she would manage, though it would take some time._

_Then her stomach gave a loud growl. It rang menacingly through the silence of the room. She had seen the power bars earlier, but hadn´t even been able to move and grab one. Now she reached out for them, unwrapping one. Munching one away, she laid back. As she didn´t dare to reach out for him mentally as her mind was still too shaky for that, she just tried to find out about this mood without the empathy. He breathed steadily. His body felt calm. The bed was warm – he had been around for a while._

_"Did it work ?" she finally asked into the darkness. He remained silent, only moved behind her. When she had finished chewing, he brought her body over his, stretching out for a moment. She considered for a moment and decided that the fact that she was still alive could be taken as a yes._

_She had almost fallen asleep again when she realized blearily that he forced her up and to her feet. She stumbled for a moment and he lifted her up impatiently. "An hour left ´til morning, darling."_

_The tiled wall of the shower room felt ice cold at her back. Hot water sprayed her face and body, as she didn´t stand right under the downcoming stream._

_He would obviously grant her the privilege of another shower before taking her back to the cells. Well, he wouldn´t do it completely for nothing. So much was clear._

_She had in some way gotten used to him over the last weeks. And in some way, she accepted that he could and would do with her whatever he liked, as it kept her alive. Still, right now in that state of weakness, her mind wrecked and fucked up like this, she took it all in as clearly as back at their first night. The massiveness of his body and his overwhelming physical advantage. The well calculated use of his claws. The change in his scent when his arousal rose. He lifted her up again, for once pinning her kind of softly against the wall behind her, high enough for a kiss. His mouth felt warm. Alive. Demanding._

_He took his time._

_He didn´t do that often. Most of the time, he clearly avoided to kiss her. Really – not only hard and short for a statement of dominance. Though he´d force her into the most intimate thing they could possibly share, she mused that a French kiss – especially a soft, though still demanding one - felt more intimate – at least for him._

_It seemed that lifting her up and holding her there didn´t even take him any effort. The low start of a growl deep in his chest, already audible for her long before getting audible for every body else, gave her a thrill._

_He had never taken her there or like that before. She gasped when he did, completely subdued to his strokes. For the second time through her captivity, she felt her mind stepping back, allowing her instincts to take over. Earlier that night, the challenge had been will against will. She failed to suppress the sounds of arousal and excitement he caused in her despite the already wreaked havoc. She rested back in his grip, submitting her body to him almost willingly._

_Almost absently, she wrapped her arms around his neck, though she failed to steady herself by doing so. She closed her eyes, deathly tired, and for a moment, there was only the sound of the water, his breath and his heart._

_He cupped the back of her head with one large hand, preventing her from getting knocked head against the wall when he plunged deeper into her, his hips rocking against hers._

_She had survived so far, though she felt mentally completely exhausted. Only slightly shocked, longing for the same degree of physical exhaustion, she realized that she was willing to let it be need against need right now._

_Regarding the almost careful way he ravished her this time, she figured she had done well._

_* * *_

_He definitely savoured the reactions the sight of her caused around them. The way the guards glanced at her, then at him, then quickly averted their eyes. The way one of Stryker´s early rising minions stared at them passing them. The horror stricken expressions the women in the cells around her own wore staring after them. The gasp of the girl in the cell right next to hers when he shoved her in._

_For some reason, it caused some sick kind of satisfaction in him. The look of her pale, ill-looking and almost translucent shining skin. The red bloody marks flashing over her neck and shoulders. The heavy lidded eyes. The fact that she was barely able to walk or at least stand on her own feet. The irony was that most of the damage had been caused by herself, the physical exhaustion mostly a consequence of the mentally strain. Still, it made people´s minds freak out about what he´d done to her. He took all the accidentally granted credit for it nevertheless - maliciously thankful.  
_

_ "Rest!" he commanded, topping off the show._

_Again, she didn´t turn or look at him._

_His lips curled into a broad grin. Too scared too admit that she had offered him collaboration again, she had pretended to demand a reward this time. Considering what providing that special amazing service had obviously done to her, she must really had been out of her mind._

_The only thing the little batlike moth had asked for had been a decent meal._

_* * *_

_He stared at the outline of her neck for a moment before he left. For a rare philosophic instance, he mused that it could be taken as a reflection of her mind, her will._

_Bent right now. But not broken._


	17. Chapter 17

Alayna muttered a curse under her breath, stretching her whole body to reach for some can on one of the higher boards of the shelf. "Need a hand ?" She squealed and flinched, only causing him to chuckle. He snatched the can from the shelf, handing it over to her. He stood that close behind her that she felt the heat of his body. She tried to steady her breathing.

It was Saturday, around two in the afternoon. She had expected him the whole morning to show up, finally relaxing as time passed. She hadn´t expected him to shop up now. "How the hell did you get in ?" she asked. He only grinned. „Sorry, darling. Couldn´t remember the opening times." "Don´t worry", she answered nonchalantly. "I´ll just get you your stuff." He put huge hands around her upper arms. His grip was soft – but nonetheless firm. "No need to hurry", he stated. "Did you think about my offer ?" "There´s nothing to think about", she answered lowly. "Why so impolite, darling ?" Instead of drawing back, she drew closer, resting the back of her head against his chest for a moment. "Get out of my life", she whispered then, her tone resolute and frosty, her body stiffening. He cocked his head. "I´d rather prefer to get right into it, darling." He caressed the edge of her ear with his lips for a moment, knowing it would drive her mad. "Deeply", he added suggestively.

Instead of the enraged reaction he had expected, she only threw him a wry look over her shoulder. "Get your hands off from me", she ordered calmly. "Or what ?" he asked. He wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her closer. "I want you", he whispered, his voice filled with a sudden intense that made her shiver. She tried to slip out of his grip. "Is that why you´re trying to buy me ?" she muttered hoarsely. To her surprise, he released her, though he stood still right behind her. "If this were about sex, darling, don´t you think I would have already taken what I wanted ?" He rested a clawed hand against the shelf´s edge in front of her, letting her study the sight of his claws. "There would have been some hundred chances", he continued. "A hundred times that I could have tracked you down on your way home, raping you out there on that fuckin´ street, in the middle of the road, spilling your sweet blood all over the snow - without any of these cowards standing up for you! A hundred times that I could have been waiting for you at your nice little ice lair, tying and gagging you and fucking you raw without good old Danny even noticing that I am there." She moved to get away from him, but he put a heavy hand on her shoulder. "Who would keep me from locking you in again ?" he whispered. "You´re such a bastard!" she hissed through gritted teeth.

She was going to slip off his hand when small bell next to the entrance door rang – announcing a visitor. "Somebody there ?" a voice called. "Great", she muttered. He had obviously left the door open. He released her, silently gesturing towards the room in the front.

They were two. The first large and of slim built, the second smaller and looking brawny.

They were dressed in inconspicuous clothes, jeans, shirts, warm jackets, but she looked through that immediately. These guys were not from around here. Their clothes looked too new. The car in front of the door too clean. They seemed too tense. And they were surely not as nice and innocent as they tried to appear.

"We´re actually already closed, guys", she greeted them casually. "Really ?" one of them asked, acting not really convincingly. "Door was open", the other one muttered. "Really ?" She made big eyes. "Seems I forgot to lock it." They didn´t move. "So can I get you something as you´re already in now ?" she asked brightly. "Actually, Miss…." The bigger one drew closer to the counter. "We´re looking for somebody. Thought you could maybe help us." He looked round, pretending to admire the range of goods in the shelves. "I mean, this is the only shop around here – isn´t it ?" "Yeah!" Her voice sounded proud. She put her forearms down to the counter, bending her upper body forward, giving them an impressed look. "So who are you looking for ?" she asked, pretending excitement. "A criminal or something ?" "Indeed a criminal, Miss", the smaller one said. He looked that uncomfortable in his jeans and shirt that she wondered if the guy normally even slept in a suit or something. "In fact, a mutant, too", the other one added. "One of these freaks ?" Victor noticed in surprise how convincingly disgusted she sounded. "So do you have a picture or something ?" she asked. "No picture, but a description. He´s about six and a half feet tall, short dark hair, beard. Massively built. He´s a feral mutant, if you´re familiar with that expression. Got claws, in fact. I am sure you would have noticed that detail." She stared at them, stunned. "Holy God! I surely haven´t seen a guy like this ´round." "You´re sure, Miss ?" the brawny one asked. "Sure ?" she echoed. "A guy with claws ? I would remember that, wouldn´t I ?" Her voice got quite high pitched. "So you haven´t seen anybody else around ? Strangers ? New faces ? Nobody remarkable ?" She shook her head. "No. Nobody. I mean, there are the regular rich boys coming for the hunt here from time to time, but not at this time of the year. I mean, this is the fuckin´ _end_ of the world outside here. " Victor admired her talent of giving the guys the rube.

"So I think we shouldn´t bother you further", the smaller one said. "Any idea where we could ask around besides the shop ?" he then asked. She nodded that heavily that her ponytail bobbed up and down. "Sure. There´s Sam´s bar at the end of the road. But he´ll not open ´til the evening. But as it happens, I work there, too. So you won´t need to wait." The lanky one threw her a doubtful look. "But if you still wanna go there, ask for Sam directly. He will surely help you if he´s noticed anything." "Really ?" the smaller one asked again. She nodded. "Well, yes, I guess. He doesn´t like mutants. He´s always an eye on these freaks." "Well, alright." He handed her a calling card. "Just tell us if you see anyone or anything unusual, will you ?" She nodded, looking like an overzealous child. The men turned. They had almost reached the door when she called for one of them after looking at the card. Victors got ready to leap forward. „So, agent Sheridon ?" The taller one turned.

She threw him a package of sweets. "Just some provision – it´s always better to have something with you with these unpredictable snow storms of the last weeks." The man stared at the chocolate in his hand. "I really hope you seize that guy soon!" He only nodded. "Yeah. Thanks." He gestured thankfully with the hand he held the chocolate in. Then they left.

She locked the door after them, watching them leave. She realized that she had done it again. She had again collaborated with the guy, not even able to name a single reason for that. Some instinct had told her that besides everything criminal Creed might ever have done – and she didn´t doubt that there was a really long list – these guys hadn´t definitely been the ones she should trust on to save her.

She returned to the counter, frustrated. She didn´t like to admit it, but Victor was probably right. She knew people like them. Only too good. And she wondered if there would be anyone around except Danny, Liz and probably Sam (who indeed hated mutants, but was one himself and might have the right to do so for that) who would stand up for her if some day men like these would come and ask around for her.

With a sigh, she decided to return to that other front she had been fighting at before this weird visit, intending to ask him about it. Only to find the criminal claw armoured mutant in question gone.


	18. Chapter 18

Danny was out that evening for the weekly poker night. They guys took turns to host it and she had to admit that she liked the evenings Danny had to do so. She liked to do all the things grumpy wives wouldn´t do for them – prepare some snacks, take care for enough cold beer, don´t complain about the smell of their cheap cigars all over the house.

Tonight, she was glad that he wasn't around. She was not in the mood for company.

She grabbed one of the two bottles of whine she had brought from the store the other night from the shelf in the kitchen, wondering if Danny had already enjoyed the second one alone. The bottle and glass in one hand, she went over to the living room, scanning through Danny´s records, looking for a certain one.

"Snooping ?"

Bottle and glass hit the floor, bursting.

She turned around. The bastard just sat there in the dark, obviously feeling comfortable in Danny´s favourite chair. He held the missing whine bottle with one clawed hand. She cursed herself for being caught off her guard like that. "What the hell !" she hissed. "Oh." He got up and put the bottle to a nearby sidetable. "Frightened? I just wanted to see if you changed your mind." Her eyes followed him pacing over to the fireplace, pretending to admire some hunting trophy there. "I didn´t." He threw her a musing look. "And you won´t ? No matter what ?" "No matter what", she confirmed. He let his gaze slide across the room for a moment. Then his eyes returned to her face. "Not even if I double the reward ?" The answer could be read on her face quite clearly. _Not even if hell freezes over. _

He sighed, letting one forearm rest against the surface of the fireplace´s mantelpiece. "So that´s a no ? A pity. Considering that it would be enough to calm down the guys you owe all that money to." The muscles of her jaw tightened visibly. "That´s none of your business", she spat through gritted teeth. He sighed. "Let´s calculate again, darling. I ask you to fuckin´ do the dishes for me for three months. You won´t need to stay a single day longer. You won´t leave earlier. I offered you three fuckin´ grands for that." He raised an eyebrow. „Quite a lot, I think." He slowly crossed the room, grabbing a framed picture from a shelf. "You declined." He put the frame back into place. "Then I offered you six grands for it, and you still refuse to even consider." He had crossed full length of the room now, turning to her. "That´s quite surprising for a girl as deep in shit as you are." "Stow it!" she hissed, intending to leave. "Stay!" He had commanded that in such a sharp tone that she stopped, staring at the ground in front of her. "Ten grands for the whole package", he stated. Her head came up. "What ?!" she asked in disbelief.

Amused, he noticed that she had blushed. "Spare me your dirty thoughts, honey", he teased. Then he grew serious. "Ten grand", he repeated. "And I´ll get the housekeeper and the empathy thing, if needed." She gasped. „Three months", he repeated. "And I´ll clear all your fuckin´ debts."

She turned away from him, feeling sick. He granted her only a moment to consider. "Still not interested ?"

She put her head back for a moment. Then she turned to him again. "I haven´t done that for years", she stated, referring to her empathic abilities. He shrugged, obviously unimpressed. "You learned from Xavier, didn´t you ?" She flinched. "Is there anything you don´t know ?" she asked. Another shrug. "About you ? Don't think so." He lent lazily against the wall besides one of the windows. "Xavier trained you. You´ll manage." She stared at him. "Have you any idea of what you´re asking for ?" she asked. After a moment, he nodded. "I do." He had seen the effects of psychic people testing her strength on him. And especially her testing her strength on him, too. "Don't tell me that you haven´t done that for Danny." "He´s human", she whispered. "That´s something completely different." He sighed exaggeratedly. "Whatever. So what is it now ?"

She closed her eyes, feeling a bad headache rise. Three months. Ten grands. No more debts.

"I need to talk to Danny about this", she said. "Well, he suggested you should accept, didn´t he ?" "There are things to _organize_!" she said. He nodded. "Yeah. The same goes for our little trip. So there´ll be time enough." "He´ll need somebody to help him with the store", she muttered. "And someone to do the laundry." "And someone to warm his bed ?" he offered as an addition to the list. "He really doesn´t deserve your cynicism", she snarled. "Oh, I forgot." He cocked his head, eyeing her up, evaluating. "You prefer freezing to death upstairs at night." She hissed. "Danny would never touch me – though he isn´t able to have sex anymore anyway." He raised his eyebrows while she curled her lips for a moment. So he hadn´t know. She crossed her arms in front of her again. Regarding the strength of his healing factor, something like this would never be a problem for him and she knew. "Just _imagine_ what it would do to somebody like you!" she stated. He wandered over to the other side of the room again. "You could still share his bed." She rolled her eyes. "Is that everything you´re worried about ?" she asked. Then she frowned, registering the strange mix of feelings she caught. "Are you jealous ?" she asked, trying to hide her surprise.

He made a short impatient sound. "You´re in ?" She took a deep breath. "I tell you I don´t even know If I´d be able to…" "I said `if needed´", he interrupted sharply. "And how often is it needed regularly ?" she asked. He growled. "Regularly, not at all nowadays." She gave him a surprised look. "I am not as… " "Shut up!" he barked. "This is the fuckin´ deal!You take the job, I´ll clear your debts – no matter if you´ll have needed to use your abilities or not in the end. I was told that you´ll manage and I don´t need to be treated with kid gloves! Spare me your excuses! This is the last time I´ll ask you – are you in ?"

The change in her scent had already told him before she opened her eyes and answered. Still, he liked to hear her say it. "I´m in."


	19. Chapter 19

_„Watch out, Ally!" muttered Cassy besides her at the sight of the feral. Alayna, who had tried to support Lucy, the older woman on the left, with consoling Bella, the young shape shifter girl, again, turned to the cell´s entrance. The sight of him made her flinch._

_His eyes were dark with anger, and she noticed a constant growl, that deep and angry that it was probably not noticeable for the others. He was covered in dirt and blood and was still armed, though she wondered what the hell a man like him needed additional weapons for. He dragged her with him that roughly that she stumbled several times, barely able to keep pace with him._

_They passed Wilson at the entrance of the cellblock. For once, the merc was smart enough to step aside. "Let me guess", he muttered to Dukes, who approached from the hangar, looking similarly wrecked as Creed. "Creed had a fuckin´ bad day." "You can say that again", his simple minded comrade only answered, looking quite pissed himself. Well, Creed had the tendency to let people around feel his bad mood after a bad day – and Wilson knew from experience that long flights home were not that agreeable with the pissed big cat aboard. He shrugged, not too impressed by that fact. He patted one of the guards on the back. "Order a casket", he suggested. "I think darling won´t make it through the night."_

_Alayna clearly realized that even the normally motionless guards stepped out of Creed´s way tonight. Nobody followed them. Nobody tried to talk to him. Nobody tried to stop them. Everybody they met just hurried out of the way._

_It also meant that nobody would help her._

_He shoved her into his room, slamming the door so hard that the metallic bang could probably be heard through the whole building. He had never brought her directly here, had always brought here to the showers first. This time, he didn't seem to mind._

_Pieces of his equipment hit the table and floor. An overlarge assault rifle, munitions, additional equipment, carelessly thrown away. There were more weapons. Handguns, a kind of knife with a blade as long as her forearm. Technical stuff. She realized that his clothes were soaked with blood from the outside as well as from the inside – he had obviously been injured badly, though the wounds had healed probably hours ago._

_He turned to her, growling at the horror stricken expression on her face, his eyes wandering from her face down to her body. She flinched, realizing the mistake. Instead of undressing, she had just stood around like frozen, watching him. A mistake he would probably make her pay for._

_She would never have managed to pass off his grip. He grabbed her by the hair and shoved her to the bed, the push that violently that she crashed down to it. She squealed when he grabbed her again to pull her up to him. The tips of his claws carelessly scratched skin where he cut through her clothes._

_She brought her hands and arms up to protect her face out of instinct, but he forced them impatiently down in one powerful move. His fangs flashed in the dim light. He shook her for a moment like a doll. "Do it!" he roared. She stared at him, for a moment simply not catching up. "Manage or you die!" he added, the deep whisper more frightening than the roar._

_She paled. She was hardly able to control the empathy completely when she concentrated hard on it. She doubted that she was able to do _anything _under pressure._

_His claws cut deeper and she yelled. Shocked by the pain, she pressed her palms and forearms against him. Expectedly, she needed longer than ever to adjust. When she succeeded finally, she could smell the scent of her own blood in the air._

_She had no chance to control things this time. No way to control the chaos entering her mind. She squealed and yelled, fighting to get away from him to break contact. The effort was useless. He forced her only harder against him. "Don´t !" she pressed out, horror-stricken, but he didn´t listen. The pain brought tears to her eyes. She felt suddenly dizzy. His ferocity forced her mind back and its way into her head until she felt like her soul had squatted in the last remaining unconquered corner of herself. She lost the feeling of her own body. Her sight narrowed._

_Creed´s growling became louder, deeper, more impatient. Not that he hadn´t expected it. He had foolishly hoped to find something he should have known wasn´t there. She was not strong enough for this. She shrank back._

_Alayna felt cornered. Defeated. Crushed down and paralyzed by the pain. There were probably only seconds left until she would pass out. The tips of his claws cut deeply into her wrists now – it was the last thing she consciously felt._

_Unexpectedly, the sudden pain seemed to trigger something. Seemed to push her. At last, make her mind find its will to survive._

_He felt the resistance immediately. But what had felt soothing and comforting last time shot like bullets through his head this time. The sudden sting of pain made him flinch and snarl. He tightened his grip on her – only to jerk again, flashlights exploding behind his eyes. Her face a ghastly grimace, she cried out, a hoarse and sinister sound._

_It wasn´t as if she had made a last desperate attempt before she passed out. To her, it didn´t felt like something she did willingly. More than something she let for the first time in her life only happen._

_What had felt like a sting of pain to him at first changed into constantly growing agony. The strong but soft strength, softly soothing down the turmoil, had given way - for a force that fierce that he only wanted to duck down and hide mentally._

_He wasn´t given the chance._

_Unable to do anything against it, he felt forced back, hard and merciless. All the fear, the rage, the helplessness and despair descended on her and by that unavoidably on him, with a might he wouldn´t have been able to imagine. He felt himself sag down to his knees in front of the bed, dragging her with him, her claws digging painfully into his skin._

_Victor kneeled still in front of the bad when she opened her eyes again. She felt immediately sick and somehow bodiless. Lights and flashes danced before her eyes. She tasted blood in her mouth, realizing that she had bitten her lip. The feeling for her body returned slowly, like a mass of weights she was not able to lift. Her muscles convulsed uncontrollably for a moment. She stared at the feral in front of the bed, unable to move. Whatever he was up to, she was at his mercy more than ever right now – and she would have to witness whatever he would do to her without any chance to defend herself._

_She lost sight of his face when he got up slowly up to his feet again, as she was not even able to turn or lift her head. The words, the only ones he had spoken so far tonight, echoed like a curse in her head before she passed out._

_She was not sure what had just happened. But she was sure she wouldn´t survive the night._

_The feral wouldn´t forgive her that she had brought him down to his knees._


	20. Chapter 20

_For a single moment of horror, she felt like somebody tried to drown her._

_Slowly finding her way back to consciousness, she realized that in fact nobody tried to drown her, but nevertheless poured water over her face. "Get up!" a deep voice commanded. She tried to shield her face from the water, but he forced her hand aside. But finally stopped wetting her face. "Get up!" he repeated. She tried. Pain exploded in her head and she gasped. He grabbed her arms and brought her into an upright position. She moaned as the sudden movement only caused more pain. "Did Stryker order you to do this ?" he asked. She wasn´t able to follow his reasoning for a moment. "What ?" she asked, still feeling dazed._

_He slapped her, hard. The might of it made her fall back down to the sheets again. "You know, things look already bad for you – don´t make it worse!" he advised her. "Answer me!" he then barked. "No!" she yelled. She only dared to glance at him shortly. "Why the hell should he! I am a prisoner here!" He only snarled. Others were only prisoners, too, but the old bastard still succeeded to use them for his purposes. "So you´re not spying ?" This time, she answered quickly. "No." "Did nobody ever ask you about our lovely trysts ?" She sat slowly up again, still avoiding his eyes. "No." "So what happened ?" This time, she threw him a fearful glance, not knowing what she should answer to that – as she wasn't sure about it herself. He moved and she jerked back, fearing another blow. He only snarled impatiently, as he hadn´t intended that. Nevertheless, nice if she had guessed he had. The girl was more than frail and frightened – it wouldn´t need much to torture things out of her. "I don´t know", she answered hastily. He stared for a moment at her. "Am I supposed to believe _that_?" he barked. "Something like this never happened before", she defended herself. "And why not ?" He got louder the more his impatience grew. She looked at him, tediously trying to keep her fear under control. He grabbed her by the hair. "Answer me, for God´s sake!" he roared. "I think ´cause nobody tried to force it before", she answered, her words only a whisper. He stared at her, his gaze sinister. Then he growled, annoyed. _

_Releasing her, he started to pace across the room._

_She watched him for some moments, then found enough courage to ask him. "Why the hell should I help this guy ? Stryker, I mean." "Why not ?" he answered mysteriously. "If I´d be working for them, they would at least give me a little more to eat, wouldn´t they ?" she mused. Not to mention what kind of moving causes it would need to persuade any reasonable woman to risk falling into this guy´s hands. "I still think it´s quite extraordinary that they missed this special _talent_ of yours", he told her darkly. She followed him with the eyes when he crossed the room again. "I already told you… " She stopped, narrowing her eyes for a moment. "You would know if I lie, wouldn´t you ?" He turned his head to her. She tapped the side of her nose with her index finger. "You would realize it, no ?" She at least would. He only snarled. "They might have tried to manipulate you", he finally answered her question regarding Stryker. "Promised you whatever." "Freedom ?" she asked. The word had slipped her without thinking. Thankfully, he didn´t seem to bother. "For example", he only answered._

_She sat back, closing her eyes for a moment. "They didn´t", she stated lowly. Opening her eyes again she realized that he had obviously washed and changed clothes. And that he was still surprisingly calm regarding the fury he had arrived in earlier. Considering the fact that she had only achieved to drive him further instead of calming him down and the fact that she was still alive, she wondered what had happened meanwhile. She threw a look at the clock. It was around ten. He had picked her up quite early in the afternoon. She had been knocked out for several hours._

_Memories returned. She wasn´t able to read other people´s thoughts, only to experience their feelings. So she couldn´t picture scenes or faces – but she could clearly tell if somebody liked or disliked – or loved or hated – things or persons. It had been obvious to her before that Creed clearly disliked Stryker. But never that obvious how much he hated and distrusted him. She mused that, again, something she didn´t know about had happened to make things worse._

_She was smart enough to realize that he hadn´t let her live out of generosity. She had succeeded several times before in calming him. It was no reason to ignore or underestimate his threats. He would still probably kill her. But right now, she offered him a way to face Stryker in a for him quite unusual way – or at least in a state he wouldn´t slaughter the guy in immediately._

_They both knew that._

_"Get up !" he commanded finally. She looked up to him in surprise. He only cocked his head, raising his eyebrows impatiently. She hurried to at least try. As she had slept so many hours, her legs seemed willing and able to carry her weight. For some reason, she wondered if he would take her back to the cellblock._

_Her thoughts seemed to be easy to read out of the puzzled expression on her face. He chuckled, the cheerless deep sound alone enough to scare her again. They didn´t head for the cellblock, but for the shower room. "You didn´t really thought I´m already through with you for tonight, didn´t you ?" he asked, sounding fairly amused. He grabbed her neck and shoved her forward, almost gently, but still strong enough to make her stumble. "I am really sorry, darling!" he mocked her. "But I just can´t bear that smell of fear around you!"_


	21. Chapter 21

_She fell quickly asleep that night after he´d taken her, exhausted. The imprisonment and the use of her abilities took their toll. Victor didn't, though he was tired. He wondered if the little moth had ever realized that she virtually leaked of her own emotions. It was how he had originally realized that she didn´t fear him so much – or at least not in the first place._

_He moved slowly to find a more comfortable position. Things would have been much easier if he would have simply thrown her out of the bed. For some reason, he didn´t._

_For some reason, he hadn´t done it back at that first night, either._

_Usually, he hadn't to, as the ladies chose to get away from him as far as possible anyway. There would have been no way to get at least a wink of sleep otherwise. But most of them had also at least tried to fight him. She hadn´t. So, for some weird reason, they had shared the much too small bed back then for the rest of the night. Somehow, that hadn´t changed afterwards._

_The whole thing was more than weird for him. He had never been the kind of guy to choose the same girl night after night, like Dukes. It had happened - but rarely. Still, he had gotten used to this one. To the low agreeable voice, the careful way she tried to avoid displeasing him without pretending. Though he would never admit it._

_Besides, whatever exactly she had done to him – it had worked. He had been able to face Stryker with a stoic silence and serenity during the last few weeks he had only rarely managed to show over the last few years. The look of surprise in Stryker´s face at that first evening – and a few other pleasant occasions since then - had been prizeless. It made him feel not only good, but superior. The old human scumbag didn´t seem to realize that this change was somehow connected with the girl. Actually, Stryker didn´t care much about these things at all, as long as he let the more important girl´s in one piece. Besides, he had covered things with a nice little bloodbath recently – obviously a quite convincing performance._

_Creed knew that the moth felt drained and scared. Struggled heavily to keep down the panic. Stryker´s people hadn´t done any harm to her during their examinations. So hadn´t he, well, generally speaking. But she still was a prisoner, for reasons she wasn´t told, captured by people she didn´t know. She had been here for months now. There were no answers to the question what would happen to her – or if she would ever be released again. And as she not even knew where she was or if this kind of paramilitary looking facility was maybe even sponsored by the government – probably nobody would ever be able to find her, even if somebody tried._

_She surely feared_him_ every minute they spent together. But she surely feared more to lose control. Her nerves. Give up hope. And the possible consequences of that. The uncertainty of her situation would possibly drive her crazy and she didn´t know for how much longer she would be able to avoid that._

_He hadn´t realized it directly, or, to be more precise, he hadn´t known how to interpret things. But after she had done whatever she was able to do to him to calm him down, several times by now, he had come to the conclusion that he was right._

_They had something in common._

_She struggled hard to hide her emotions when she was awake – though even then in vain. It wasn´t hard to figure out that she didn´t like him, most probably hated him. But she had obviously realized that going with him was the only chance to leave her cell except for the meals or examinations. The only chance to escape the other badly depressive and traumatized women. The only chance to tire out her fear by tiring out her body._

_Most probably, she also knew that he looked through her._

_Right now, the despair and strain and tiredness virtually dispersed from her, wrapping him in. He thought for a moment about taking her back to her cell or order her to get over to the second, now empty bed, but he didn't. The fact that he was unable to avoid perceiving her feelings at all bothered him more than her feelings themselves.__ Besides the fear of being raped or beaten or killed, the girl was mostly afraid of going mad. _

_Like a wild animal locked up in a cage for too long._

_ A feeling he knew all too well. A feeling he was used to._


	22. Chapter 22

_He was gone when she woke. Though obviously not long ago, as the sheets behind here felt still warm. So felt she. She looked at the alarm clock – it was early in the morning, but there was still time left until he had to get up and back to duty. Right at that moment, the door opened and he was back. Probably right back from where she needed to go. "I need to go to the restroom", she whispered. Her voice sounded hoarse. He watched her for a moment in the dim light of the small lamp on the nightstand. She still looked drained. Then he nodded dismissively towards the door. "Go." _

_She stared at him. She wasn´t allowed to go anywhere alone. Not even _there_. "Wasn´t there something about breaking me neck If I leave ?" she asked lowly. He rolled his eyes for a moment – something she had never seen him do before. "There was something about breaking your neck if you try to _run_." And she didn´t look like she was even able to simply _stand_ on her own right now. There was no one awake down the hall. And he was sure she wouldn´t try to flee. "Five minutes. Go." She got up, hurrying. She might be scared and close to panicking. But she was no fool. _

_She made it back in three. As she was bare footed, she was slightly trembling from the cold corridor and restroom. She had hurriedly gotten into her clothes and – as he noticed now – one of his jackets – making her look like a child trying on Daddy´s uniform. She hesitated only for an instant before getting back to the bed. She grabbed another energy bar, placing at least her feet under the blanket. When she had finished chewing, he unceremonially pulled her close to him. She breathed deeply, shivering at the warmth his body radiated. His hand slipped under the hem of her tanktop. Another shiver – it covered most of her belly. _

_Another weird thought shot into her head. For a single moment, they rested there like real lovers. Voluntarily ones. "Thanks", she whispered. His hand moved upwards, lightly caressing one of her breasts for a moment. She stiffened automatically, forcing herself to relax again. "You don´t trust that guy at all, do you ?" she asked, trying to ignore his unwelcome intimate touch. He didn't answer. Well, he hadn´t too. She had been able to feel it clearly enough. Not all, but most of his rage had been caused by Stryker this time – as almost every time. She took a deep breath. This was going to be risky. "May I ask you for something ?" she asked. The words came out lowly and more shaken than she had feared them to come. His embrace tightened a little. He chuckled while starting to undress her again. Not good. _

"_What for ?" he asked. To her surprise, it sounded only curious. "May I…I mean…do I have to go back to the others ?" He moved suddenly behind her. Was most probably getting angry. Bad. "And what the hell´s that supposed to mean ?" _

_She closed her eyes. She just couldn´t stand the way they looked at her. The sympathetic little smiles. The shocked glances at her body. She knew she would again look worse than ever in the morning, after the mental strain, the slapping, the sex. "What about the cells for solitary confinement ?" she asked. He raised his eyebrows in the dark, stunned by that proposition. Still, it didn´t prevent him from forcing down her pants. She closed her eyes again, trying hard to keep the rising fear and reluctance down in her. Forestalling his order, she stripped the pants completely down by her feet. "What the hell should you want solitariy confinement for ?" he asked. To his surprise, he could actually hear her gritting her teeth. _

_She just wanted to be alone. Wanted at least some privacy to recover. "You wouldn´t be quite comfortable there, darling." His hand slipped down the side of her body to her hip. "But I´d be alone", she whispered without thinking. She felt tears rise. He didn´t catch it. He would never prefer a muggy and dark room of about four square meters to the ones of the cellblock. He would barely be able to move there. "Have you any idea what they are like ?" "No", she whispered. He chuckled. "That´s what I thought." She felt him move behind her – felt his arousal, too. He forced the jacket from her body. "Why don´t you want back to your girls – not enjoying the hen party anymore ?" He digged his claws into the soft skin of her waist after some seconds. "Answer me." _

_She felt too tired to lie__ convincingly; besides, she had no idea what else to tell him. "I don´t want their sympathy", she said. She felt tears rise. "I just can´t stand the way they look at me", she added, her voice thick with disgust and frustration. He remained silent for some moments, bringing them into another position to get his other arm free. He kept her close, to prevent her from slipping out of his grip, talons scratching softly over the skin of her thigh. Then he chuckled. "You´ll go back there", he then decided. It sounded amused. She gasped when he let his hand slide between her thighs. Then he forced her suddenly down to her belly, his own body close to hers. "I´ll take you there." He slid one claw down her spine, pinning her lower body with his own, letting her feel his erection. "I´m gonna tie you to the bed, right in this position." He gripped her waist, cutting through her painties, then bent forward to whisper into her ear. "Then I´ll lay you there." A single talon pierced her skin and she squealed lowly. "Make you scream a little." He enjoyed feeling her muscles tense for a moment when he drove himself into her with a low growl. _

_"Then they won´t have to ask silly questions any longer", he whispered sardonically. _


	23. Chapter 23

"I´ve talked to her mother. I mean, Mellie´s quite young, but she´s smart. And as Sam finally realized that it was a bad idea to ask her to work at the bar…" She turned in surprise when she heard the backdoor open behind her. "Victor", Danny greeted him. Alayna turned again and stared at Danny, demanding an explanation. "I invited Victor for dinner." He grinned. "Thought you wouldn´t mind." She threw him a murderous glance. "I doubt that we´ll have enough meat at home!" she stated. He cocked his head, silently returning her stare. She shrugged. "Fine, whatever. But do me a favour and move to the living room." Victor laughed lowly behind her. "Why, darling – am I making you nervous ?" She curled her lips for a moment, looking annoyed. "I just don´t need two lazy bums watching me cooking."

Victor let Danny go first. The at least older looking ex soldier had just reached the living room when Alayna spoke.

"Victor ?"

It surprised him to hear her speak his first name. She hadn´t done that very often before.

"Could I talk to you for a moment ?" she asked. He turned to her, realizing how uncomfortable she suddenly looked. "You know, about these debts I have…." He watched her silently while she forced herself to talk about that. "These people I owe this money to…" He cocked his head when she didn´t continue. She sighed and had another try. "They don´t want me to… move around."

She gave up avoiding it and looked him in the eyes.

"They want to know where I am. They won´t like the fact that I`ll disappear for three months into nowhere – wherever we´re going to." "So you´re worried." She nodded. "Yes. About Danny. If they can´t find me…" He nodded. "I see. I´ll take care of that." He touched her cheek for a moment. "No need to think about that any more." She grabbed his hand. "They are dangerous. I don´t want Danny to…." "I _know_", he interrupted her. "Don´t worry."

"What about these guys asking around for you today ?" she asked. "No need to worry about them, either. They´ve been taken care of." Her eyes widened and he chuckled. "Unfortunately, I had nothing to do with it", he told her,"but a nice job you did at the store." She didn´t avoid his eyes this time. "Gave you a thrill when I called the guy back, huh ?" she asked.

He took suddenly a step forward, forcing her to step one back. He lifted her as easily as one would lift a child and made her sit on the counter, towering over her. "I don´t remember you having ever been that cocky before, you know." One of his hands remained on her thigh like by accident. He standing next to her that closely wrapped her in his scent. And he clearly intended to kiss her - again.

"What the hell do you guys do over there, huh !?" Danny´s slightly annoyed voice broke the spell. The interruption caused Victor to growl and Alayna to smile. "Stop harassing me!" she whispered, her tone resolutely, but mixed with light amusement. She put one palm against his chest like to shove him back. For once, he followed the request. She slipped from the counter and quickly turned her back on him.

* * *

Victor and Danny did most of the talking during dinner and she was glad for it. She was still not happy to leave the friend, though if it would only be for three months. When they had finished eating, Victor sat back, sighing contentedly. "The best thing I ate for months." Danny nodded, agreeing. "I told you, man, she´s a goddess - in the kitchen!" He chuckled. She rolled her eyes.

Danny put his elbows on the table and grabbed his glass, looking to and fro between the former comrade in arms and his housekeeper. "So tell me – how did you guys meet ?" Alayna´s expression froze. Victor took another sip of his beer before he answered. "I met her on a job." Danny raised his eyebrows, causing Victor to grin. "She was so nice to assist me." Danny´s gaze went from him over to her in surprise. "Unintended!" she insisted. The feral turned to her. "You were quite young back then." "Quite naïve", she muttered.

She left the two men afterwards to clean up, avoiding to eavesdrop on them sharing memories while she cleaned up the kitchen. She had just finished when Danny called for her.

"I am tired, girl, I´m going to bed." He turned his head for a moment as if he intended to throw a look back to Victor at the living room. "I think you two have to talk things over anyway." She nodded, though hesitantly. She would still have preferred to avoid being alone with the feral – though she had already agreed to that. "Good night", he wished her grumpily. "Good night", she whispered in response, watching him slowly climbing up the stairs.

* * *

She sighed, trying to concentrate again on the map in front of them. "So how long will it take to get there ?" she asked. "Two hours", he answered, "if the weather´s good." There would still be some small towns around, though the hideout lay obviously in the middle of nowhere. "We´ll need to go to town from time to time for provisions, though I´d like to store what we can", he continued. "I see no reason why you shouldn´t come with me. But I don´t want you to talk to anybody there. Get what we need. Be polite and don´t let anybody ask questions. You´ll manage ?" She nodded. "We can take with us from the store what we need for the first weeks at least", she suggested. "Yeah." She watched him study the map for a moment. Then she sat back.

„So what do you had in mind ?" she asked. "What do you mean ?" She realized that things worked normally the other way ´round – normally, people started to know about other people´s likes, dislikes and habits and their deeper feelings afterwards. They had shared some months of their live together, thirteen years ago. Under circumstances which couldn´t have been more extreme. But that didn't mean that they really _knew_ each other.

In fact, she felt like she didn´t know him at all. She bit her lip for a moment. "What do you want me to do ? Do you have breakfast ? Do you sleep late ? Is there something I shouldn't do in any case ?" "I rise early. You won´t need to. I can manage for a cup of coffee on my own. Just prepare some lunch or dinner." She nodded. "Will you be around or away ? Will there be visitors ?" "I´ll be around most of the time. No visitors." He sat back, too, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "More questions you want answers to ?"

He had answered all she had asked except the question she had asked first. She eyed him up for a moment, wondering what was going on in his mind. It was tempting to ask him why exactly he had to lie low – and if that plan hadn´t been spoiled the moment these guys had set foot into town in the afternoon – but she didn´t ask him. There would soon be more time than enough to find out about all that.

Still, it left her with a kind of peculiar feeling. She had still no idea what the feral was up to.

* * *

Two days later, Danny watched Victor and Alayna pack their provisions into the car. She realized how uncomfortable he looked by now. "You´re ready ?" Victor asked her finally. She nodded. "Yeah. Just wanna say bye to Danny." He gave a disapproving grunt, but nodded dismissively towards the door where Danny waited.

Alayna hugged the man for a moment. "Gonna call me ?" he asked. She threw a dubious look over her shoulder towards the car and her attendant. "I´ll do if there´s a chance!" she promised. Danny shifted his weight uncomfortably. He had finally asked her the day before where she had met Victor. She had refused to tell him. It made him obviously still feel uncomfortable.

"You know that I trust this fellow with my life", he told her grumpily. "And I would never …." She put a hand on his arm to interrupt him and took a step forward to kiss his cheek. "I know. Don´t worry. I met the man two times before – and I survived." It had clearly been meant as a joke, but something in her voice only added to his worries. He grimaced. "Doesn´t mean necessarily that you´ve gotten away unhurt", he answered lowly. She gave him another smile. "I´ll manage! You´ll too! Take care!" She threw him a last encouraging look before she turned.

Hopefully, she would.

* * *

The so called hideout turned out to be quite comfortable. Well, somebody had obviously planned to mislead people – from outside, the lodge looked like it would possibly fall in the next day.

The entrance door led directly into the large living room. Two big chairs and a sofa around a well designed fireplace on the left. A dining table and fitting chairs and cupboards to the right. A door opposites the entrance let to the kitchen and bathroom. A huge wooden stair besides the entrance door led to the upper level.

After a short tour through the kitchen and storage room, she followed him upstairs. Two bedrooms, some kind of study, a second bigger bathroom. "Your room´s over there." He gestured towards the door next to the bathroom door. So his own lay between hers and the stairs. She nodded, heading on.

She repeated silently what had become some kind of mantra in her mind.

She was going to manage - whatever was up to come.

* * *

The house was well-kept, though it seemed that it hadn´t been used for quite a while. There were thick layers of dust everywhere. For the first few days, that kept her agreeably busy.

There was not much talking. They had lunch or dinner together. They shared a house.

Apart from that, she managed to avoid his company - politely.

* * *

On day three, he had enough.

"Where the hell you´re going ?" he snapped when she crossed the living room after cleaning up the kitchen after dinner. "To my room", she answered lowly.

"Why ?" She raised an eyebrow at the bad tempered sound of his voice.

"You know, there is no use to work yourself into exhaustion within the first week", he told her grumpily. "At least not by doing fuckin´ _housework_!" She glanced over to him. Then to the clock at the wall besides the door. It was just around eight. Too early to tell him she wanted to go to bed, he stated drily. "Well, I think you´re not going to pay me ten grand only for sitting around", she answered lightly. "I think for ten grand, I can still expect you to act according to my wishes, now ?" She stared at him for a moment, then raised her eyebrows. "And what are these wishes right now, sir ?" she asked in a tone that politely and innocent that it would have been hard for an outsider to decide if she was teasing or meant it for real.

He let her wait for his answer for a moment, eying her up. She returned his stare in the same innocent and politely way she had spoken in. Musing that for a wanted man, the guy there on the couch looked quite relaxed.

"Is it that a tall order to keep me some company ?" he asked.

Her look wandered from his face down to the laptop on his lap and back. Surprisingly, the guy looked as familiar with it as with any kind of weapon.

"I just didn´t wanted to… bother you", she answered. "You don´t bother me and besides, I am not Danny! No reason to lock you up in your room every night at eight!"

She decided to skip an answer to this comment. Her glance wandered over the tv and bookshelf to an exquisite and undoubtedly valuable chess board with fitting chessmen.

"You play ?" he asked after a moment.

"My father told me to play it", she answered. "But it´s been quite a while since I played chess last. I would be easy prey."

He only shrugged, putting away the laptop. "You´re easy prey in every way, aren´t you ?" he challenged with a wolfish grin.

* * *

Victor realized during the following hours that he enjoyed watching her play.

She hadn´t any longer acted as offended and hostile as before after she had at last decided to accompany him. Still, she had looked uncomfortable and tense since they had left. Concentrating on the game made her – maybe unconsciously – relax.

He liked watching her staring down to the chessboard, sometimes biting her lip, trying to foresee his next step while planning and pursuing her own strategy. He lacked obviously some practice, but she definitely knew about the basics.

She sat back after she had just lost a second time and yawned. "As I said", she commented. "Easy prey." He chuckled. "Maybe I´ll grant you revenge."

She listened for a moment, though not to his words. "Sounds like there´s another storm coming", she stated. He nodded. "Yeah. Haven´t you smelled it out there ? There´s more snow coming." She only grimaced for a moment. Then she got up. "Seems I´ll have to skip my midnight walk then, tonight." She stretched for a moment, the movement causing her shirt to ride up a bit, exposing the soft skin of her belly for a second. He cocked his head.

"May I now go to bed ?" she asked, her voice innocent. "Yours or mine ?" he asked politely back. "I take that as a yes", she answered drily and turned.

"Is that something I don´t have to decide about – not even for ten grand ?"

When she turned to him again, her eyes flashed for a moment furiously. Then the expression on her face changed. "I think you already made full use of your opportunities regarding that", she answered calmly before she headed upstairs.

He watched her leaving, flipping down his queen with a talon.


	24. Chapter 24

**Sorry guys, but something went wrong with copying the stuff together correctly last night, so I had to remove the first published chapter 24 - take this one as a small consolation ´til I got things finally fixed! I´ll do my best to finish the next one!  
**

* * *

She hadn´t found much sleep since they had arrived. She usually didn´t need too many hours of sleep anyway, but tonight, she was quite tired and fall finally asleep quite quickly.

Two hours later, the first restorative sleep of the week got disturbed.

The storm howling outside woke her – something lose crashed against a wall. A shutter kept banging against the wall somewhere repeatedly.

She listened to the storm and the banging of the shutter for some minutes. Then lost patience and got up.

She stopped for a moment at the doorsill when she left her room. There was nothing to be heard. No light under his bedroom´s door. Trying to avoid any sound, she went downstairs.

An ice cold gust of wind hit her the moment she opened the window. She got sprayed with rain and snow immediately and had to stretch to all limits to reach the shutter with her fingertips, her fingers slipping of from the wet wood several times. She finally got a grip on it and managed to close it, hooking the closure of it in. She sighed in relief and closed the window.

Victor, watching her silently from the last step of the stairs, couldn´t deny that he enjoyed the sight of her outstretched naked legs when she got up to her tiptoes. He regretted that the t shirt she had borrowed from him to sleep in fitted her easily as a nightgown – too long to reveal her panties underneath. He had laughed heartily at her when she had asked for it – admitting that she had forgotten her pyjamas of all things. The question and the unwanted blush that had risen up her cheeks had been too delicious.

"Everything´s alright ?" he asked behind her. She whirled round, slightly frightened for a moment. "Yep. Just the shutter flawing open." She caught a strand of dark hair that constantly dropped into her eyes and slid it behind one ear.

He was only in a pair of loose dark pants. Her vision brought her the impression of every single visible muscle down his chest and arms. She felt a shiver running down her spine.

She already knew about what she would find underneath his clothes – and about the ways he was able to use his strength. Still, and though any kind of clothing would ever really hide his physique, even for her, the view was just stunning.

She suddenly realized that she stared at him. Then she blushed. He turned the lights on. Though they were dimmed, she needed a moment to adjust her eyes. "That storm seems to get still worse", she stated. "Yeah." He crossed the room to check on the other windows. "Got some sleep ?" he asked. She suppressed a yawn. "Not much. I´ve got trouble to sleep out." He chuckled. "As every good girl should have", he commented. She blushed slightly again and he again loved the sight. He checked the other shutters out and grabbed a bottle of water from the kitchen.

She sat on the couch when he crossed the living room again. A frail dark outline against the last light of the fire, her finely shaded skin shimmering. "Go back to sleep", he suggested. "In some minutes", she answered lowly. The weak red glow made her dark hair shine softly.

The sight of her made him grit his teeth for a moment.

He could have taken her here and now, roughly, hard, bent forward over the backrest of the couch. He wondered for a second if her skin and body would still feel the same – if he remembered them right.

But the fun would only last until he´d gotten his relief. It wouldn´t be what he had brought her here for.

Well, not everything.

"Sweet dreams then", he wished her sardonically, then left to go back to bed.

She listened to the low clicking sound the lock made when he closed his door.

She closed her eyes for a moment after that. Here she was. Alone with him of all people.

There was no doubt that she failed to know many things about him. Still, there were enough memories so intimate that they made her feel amazed and scared at the same time.


	25. Chapter 25

When she went downstairs the next morning, Victor had just put on his cloak.

"You´re leaving ?" she asked in surprise. "Without breakfast ?" she added amused. "You´ll have to have yours on your own today, darling", he answered lightly. He reached out to touch her cheek gently for a moment – the movement that unexpected that she flinched. "Sorry", she muttered lowly. "I wasn´t prepared for that." "You should really have let at least one of the guys fuck you from time to time, you know", he stated with a dark grin. "Would have kept you a little bit more relaxed around men." "Go ahead and I´ll probably decide to skip dinner today", she answered, quick at repartee. "When will you be back ?" "In the late afternoon", he answered.

She stared for a moment at the handgun he checked before he let it disappear somewhere under the coat. "Am I safe here ?" she asked finally. He nodded with a low growl. "Completely. You´re not going to kiss me goodbye ?" he asked teasingly, aware of her thoughtful look. To his surprise, she got really on her tiptoes – placing a gentle kiss on his cheek. He was barely able to feel her touch.

She turned quickly after that, heading to the kitchen. He stared at her back, surprised. "Do me a favour and get back in one piece", she muttered on her way. "You´re worried about me, darling ?" "No", she told him sarcastically, "only afraid I´ll have to walk to the next town if you don´t come back."

* * *

He returned in the late afternoon as he had told her.

She sat with a cup of tea and a book besides the fireplace when he entered. He noticed contentedly that she looked quite relaxed right now. The fire crackled lowly. She had lit a candle she had found somewhere. He smelled the flavour of some fresh cake.

It had the same astonishing effect on him as the breakfast she had served him the last three days.

Victor had always felt that employing a housekeeper was just a polite euphemism for keeping oneself a girl to sleep with straight at hand – with the nice side effect that somebody took care of the dirty clothes and the dishes.

He was used to live alone for decades now and he had always mused that having somebody permanently around would only annoy him.

The more surprising had it been for himself when he had realized a while ago that he was planning to have her around 24 hours a day – at least, as a main part of the plan.

He had never felt like missing something when he had returned to one or another hideout. He had sneered at Danny for the show he put on when he or she had returned home.

Right now, though maybe prematurely, he mused that he could get used to a not so lonely home.

"Everything done ?" she asked, getting up. He only nodded. "You´re hungry ?" "Always, darling", he answered with a grin. "As I didn´t know when you would exactly return, I haven't prepared something, but I thought you would be contended with a steak ?" He chuckled, exposing his fangs. "Again - always!" She shook her head, muttering a disapproving "Felidae!" under her breath.

Dinner was quickly prepared. Afterwards, he went upstairs for a shower. She made herself a cup of tea and reclined with a book on the couch near the fireplace.

The fact that coldness didn´t bother her as much as most ordinary people around didn´t make her like it. And with the wind howling around the house and the snow highly piled on the windowsills out there, a fireplace was something very comfortable.

Victor returned from the bathroom, his hair and beard still damp from the shower, contended to find her at the living room.

"You´re comfortable there ?" he asked. She looked up to him, irritated by his polite tone. For once, she couldn´t decide if this was mockery or for real. She nodded slowly.

He raised his eyebrows and looked suddenly quite amused. "Fine", he answered grumpily, throwing her the wet towel he had brought with him. "Then take care of the fuckin´ towel and get me a beer!"

She returned with the beer and handed it to him over his shoulder, pausing for a moment behind him. "You could have brought some peanuts or something, too, you know." She caught clearly up with his little show. "Just be yourself, Victor", she advised him, rounding the couch he had settled down to return to her place at the opposites to him. She waved the bag of peanuts around for a moment, then threw it to him. "It needs a lot of practice to become as grumpy and whiney at the same time as Danny – and you´re already bad tempered enough!"

She settled down again and reached out for her cup of tea. She brought her legs up to the couch and found herself a position that looked more than uncomfortable to him. "I didn´t know that you don´t eat meat", he suddenly stated, referring to their dinner. She threw him an amused look. "Does that mean there are still things left you _don´t_ know ?" She watched him thoughtfully for a moment. "I think I actually remember you eating meat", he mused lightly. Her expression didn´t change. "I do if I have to", she answered calmly. Then she bent forward a little. If he could change topic as quickly as that, she could do that, too.

"You made Sam fire me, didn't you", she accused him. He answered that with a low chuckle. "I did." She clicked her tongue disapprovingly. The bastard didn´t even try to deny it. "Actually, the old son of a bitch even dared to tell me no, first", he added amused. "Said he couldn´t manage without you. But it needed not too much threatening to convince him." "You know", she said, still sounding thoughtfully, "you could have _asked_ me!" "And you would have agreed ?" he asked her back. "Maybe. Maybe not. But it would surely have been more polite than blackmailing me!" "How the hell did you get into trouble with Ian Malloy of all people ?" he asked, referring to the criminal she owed all that money too. "How the hell did you find me ?" she shot back.

For a moment, the only sound to be heard was the crackling of the fire. "I told you I would", he answered finally. The words sounded peculiar in his own ears. "And it took you almost a decade and a half ?" she continued. "I succeeded, didn´t I ?" "By accident ?" she mused.

He wrinkled his nose for a moment. It was the only visible reaction to her words. But an emotional wave of disapproval coming off from him confirmed her suspicions. She smiled weakly. "Thought so", she commented. "Xavier would better have trained you to use your feral talents instead of this empathic crap, you know", he remarked. "I remember times where you thought less disparagingly of that." "And you picked Daniel as a human guinea pig to practice on ?" She put her cup down. He was trying to annoy her, but she wasn´t going to do him the favour, though the conversation was taking a turn she didn´t like.

"He helped me, I helped him", she answered resolutely. "He urgently needed it." "A pity that you couldn´t help him out with _other_ things he might have urgently needed!" he hissed. "You know, I think I did worse things - to survive." She believed to find a short sting of anger in him. He chuckled after a moment, though it sounded not that amused anymore. The moth tried to turn the tables. And she was good.

"So what about Malloy ?" he enquired. "Those debts were not yours if I got things right." "You already know, don´t you ?" she asked. He remained silent for a moment. He knew the main facts –but had possibly missed some relevant details. "I got involved with the wrong guy", she answered finally. "I didn´t know anything about his debts until he disappeared." "He didn´t told you ? Contacted you ?" She shook her head. "No. Never." So it was true, Victor mused. The guy had fled and they had made her pay instead. "You would never have been able to pay all the money back with these jobs out here", he mused. She grimaced. "Well, I figured that I would probably outlive Malloy and his gang. And they were contended with what they got." Letting her just enough to survive.

He knew she had been paying back money to them for years. Money her missing lover had maybe never really borrowed or lost – as he had maybe never really received it before. She had been blackmailed for years - most probably, for nothing. "What should I have done ?" she asked as if she had read his thoughts.

He considered things for a moment. Another guy blackmailing her had given him the opportunity to blackmail her into accompanying him.

"You could have returned to Xavier", he suggested. She let her head rest against the couch. "I could have", she confirmed. "Xavier is a fine men. I learned a lot from him." She shrugged. "But I think I didn´t fit in there as nicely as the others did."


	26. Chapter 26

The island again.... you´ll maybe find a little change in the writing style, hope it doesn´t disturb you. Not much talking, not too many emotions, as they didn´t seem appropriate after all the soft Canada cuddling - hope you´ll like it anyway! ;-)

**Some violence in this chapter. Be warned.**

Please review - thanks!

* * *

_A few days later__, something Alayna had long feared for finally happened. Late in the evening, another group of hunters showed up to choose. _

_It was ridiculous to some point, but there was a weird hierarchy behind the official one inside here. One in which Victor had definitely succeeded to place himself at the upper end. Being claimed by him had ironically spared her the attention of any of the other men. So far._

_This time, one of them was reckless enough to ignore Victor Creed´s claim. _

"_Not wise", his fellow companion told him. "She´s Creed´s." "She´s nothing!" the other one answered. "But a guinea pig. I want her, I´ll take her." He didn't add that he had just gotten the information that Creed was away – not to return before the end of the week. The other shrugged. "I warned you." _

_* * *_

_Alayna shivered when he dragged her out of the cell. A tall brute packed with muscles, smelling of sweat, beer and pure aggression. She knew that Victor was not around – if he´d been, he wouldn´t have granted her peace for more than a day or two. To her disadvantage, she had no information if he was on a so called mission – or worse. The only hint for a mission was the fact that Wade, Dukes and Zero hadn´t showed up for some days, too. _

_Dragged and shoved by the guy besides her along the corridor, she realized in horror that Victor´s presence, as unwanted and unwelcome as it had been most of the time, had given her safety to some point. Some kind of sick but available protection. Protection she was now desperately looking for. _

"_You do not look like Creed really likes you", the man mocked her. "I don´t see scars." He tightened his grip around her upper arm. "Or are you one of the bitches with a healing factor ?" He laughed, obviously not really expecting her to answer. "Just better!" he told her. "More fun to have a rather rough party then!" _

_* * *_

_She squealed under another vicious blow, sagging down. "You think you´re very smart, huh, bitch!" A kick into her ribs pressed the air out of her lungs and she gasped. He had her hands tied behind her back – no way to soften her fall or to protect herself. He had blindfolded her directly after tying her up – not knowing that at least her seventh sense would allow her to know from which side he approached her or where he stood. It made him only angrier._

"_This really starts to get boring!" he barked. She only sobbed, smelling and tasting her own blood. _

_He moved away from her for a moment. The next sounds made her freeze. He had rumoured through his stuff for a moment. _

_For a knife. _

_She had seen the large blades of the knives those men wore. _

"_Tell me about your healing factor__ again, bitch!" he chuckled._

_* * *_

_David Parker, called Maverick, had to realize that night that information was everything. _

_* * *_

_One shot was enough to make the door´s lock explode. Victor didn´t even flinch, but kicked it open. Parker stood directly in his fireline. Another shot, piercing his shoulder, let him stumble and crash against the wall behind him. _

_Victor glanced only for a second over the bleeding girl at the floor besides the door. _

_Parker´s eyes only widened at the sight of the feral. _

_Creed dropped the gun and was close to him within an instant. _

_* * *_

_It took the feral another second to realize that something was wrong. _

_Parker´s eyes looked glassy. Empty, though a rest of horror showed in them. The smell of fear overlaid everything, even the blood and adrenaline. _

_Victor stared at the man in front of him. A soldier. A skilled fighter. A man he hated but who had proved his talents on the rare occasions they had been forced to cooperate. Parker was maybe a mad sadistic egomaniac, but definitely no coward. _

_Victor wouldn´t have needed the sight of the man´s eyes though. The smell was enough. The man in front of him was dying. His smell was dominated by the fear of death he probably still felt. _

_* * *_

_Creed __glanced over his shoulder. She didn´t move, but she was alive. There was a lot of blood, but he was sure that she wasn´t fatally wounded._

_His eyes returned to P__arker. _

_* * *_

_Alayna flinched at the sound of breaking bones and Parker´s low groan. _

_A body sagged to the floor, landing with a tubby sound. _

_Victor only glanced at the bloody knife besides her, then cut through her bondages with his claws. There were several cuts up her arm and neck. A small cut at her jaw. Luckily nothing more. Though she would heal, the thought of Parker cutting up her face let him feel sick – it irrotated him, though. Still, blood covered her temple, mouth and chin. _

_He dragged her to her feet. They left. _

_* * *_

_She followed willingly and without a sound like a child following his mother, but after some meters, h__e wrinkled his nose. Her scent had just changed. _

_She turned around so quickly that he had almost missed the move._

_He go__t grip of her shoulder for a second, but his claws slipped, leaving deep rents at her jacket and bloody scratches at her skin underneath. _

_Still, a fast and powerful leap was enough to catch her. He flung his arms around her. _

_For the first time ever, she didn´t hesitate to struggle – and did it blindly, her body winding and twisting under his hands._

"_Calm down!" he barked lowly. "Let me out", she whispered, her voice somehow ghastly and hollow. "Let me out !" she then cried out, doubling her efforts against him._

_He smelled something mixing into that stench of panic and fear, something he would never fail to distinguish from other scents. _

_She brought her whole – though ridiculously humble – bodyweight up against him for a moment to manage to get out of his grip. He withstood the attack effortlessly, only keeping her from running._

_Normally, he would simply have slapped or shaken her. Usually, that was enough._

_He realized that it wouldn´t be done with that. He knew it the moment he had caught a glimpse of the expression in her eyes._

_She hadn´t stopped __fighting him for a second. For the first time, he felt the sharpness of her own little black claws digging into his skin. He shoved her back a little – only causing her to bare his teeth. It made her bloody face change into a wild grimace. _

_He knew the look in her eyes, as good as the scent of fear and adrenaline._

_The caught animal was going mad._

_He avoided at the last moment that her talons clawed across his face.__ He shoved her back roughly in disbelief. She didn´t flinch or cry or squeal. _

_As the human being was obviously going hysterical, the animal had taken over._

_She ran._

_* * *_

_He shoved her trough another door. Alayna stumbled backwards over something solid in her way and fell._

_She landed in a puddle. _

_So the first thing outside she noticed was the water. _

_Rain was coming down, soaking her clothes and hair. Causing the soft sound that millions of raindrops hitting earth usually caused._

_It was dark, but there were at least some artificial lights out there in some distance. There was some kind of mist, and, cutting through her perceptions like a knife, the scent of __salt. They were close to the sea. She could hear the sound of the waves. _

_Her senses worked faster than ever. _

_The strength of the wind, the surroundings below them. There were on the roof of some kind of building. _

_She got__ slowly back up to her feet. For a moment, she only stood, breathed and glanced around. He could see her shaking. _

_Hopefully a tall one._

_Her body twitched for a moment. A shiver of determination and finality spread out over her skin._

_Her muscles tightened. _

_His __sudden brutal grip made her squeal. "Don´t even think about it!" he stated calmly. He had brought her outside, but he wouldn't let her go anywhere. Besides all determination and finality, she had hesitated a moment too long – and lost the only chance to escape. He had realized that she had prepared herself to jump. _

_The raindrops hitting her face mixed with her tears__ and blood. _

_He stayed silent after that for a while. Let her rage and cry and sob__ without ever loosening the tight embrace. _

_There would have been no words for her to describe the desperate and overwhelming mixture of her emotions. At least none to explain all that to him of all people. The panic, the horror, the pain. The despair._

_She wasn´t able to tell afterwa__rds how long they had stood there. The tears and pain changed into some kind of numbness out there in the ice cold rain. _

_When he finally turned to take her back, she grabbed his shirt. _

"_Kill me", s__he whispered hoarsely. "Kill me this time."_

_* * *_

_ * * * * * *  
_

_The guard looked at Creed and __the unconscious captive the feral carried. They were both soaked from rain and blood though the girl looked definitely worse compared to him. _

_Creed nodded towards the cells behind them. "Somebody asked for solitary confinement", he told the man drily. The guard overcame the surprise and turned to the cells. "This one´s unoccupied." He went first and opened the door. Victor put the unconscious woman down at the cot, then left and watched the man lock the door. "She´s rated dangerous. Get her something to eat and some clothes while she´s stunned. No permission to get in to her when awake." The man nodded. He was used to orders like that by now. "What about the medics ?" he asked. "She´s self healing – they won´t come." The man nodded. "She managed to flee ?" he asked curiously. The feral only grinned. "Does she look to you like she enjoyed a little midnight walk ?" he asked back. _

_* * *  
_

_Creed went for a show__er afterwards, alone this time. The smell of Parker´s blood on him disgusted him. He sighed at the unavoidable questioning Stryker would force him into – things got really boring right now. Fortunately, Parker had been acting quite unpredictable for a while now. Where Creed liked to give people the unpredictable animal, this one had had not the slightest bit of self control. And it hadn´t been a secret that they hated each other. _

_Parker had always overestimated himself. Missing information about the girl´s skills and wrong information about Creed´s absence had just turned out to be deadly. _

_Creed knew that Parker had become some kind of burden. He had left his__ unmistakable marks. Stryker would have to question him in pretence. He would probably not sent him on another mission for a while – or to one he knew Victor wouldn´t like. But it wouldn't be hard to hide that the moth had just killed the man and, as he mused, even without touching him. _

_Information was everything__._


	27. Chapter 27

_The next time he came __to pick her up, he greeted her with a toothy smile. "I hope you had a good rest", he told her, dark amusement ringing through the words. She might not feel that good, but her outward appearance didn´t show that. The healing factor prevented such things. _

_She ignored the comment and followed him in silence.__ His high spirits surprised her._

_Hours later, he listened attentively to the rhythm of her breath. She_ had _recovered – she was probably tired, but hadn´t fallen asleep so far. There was some kind of composure around her he didn´t trust. She radiated a peace of mind he had never felt on her before – and that he had never expected especially now. _

_"__You didn´t fear I would accompany you to your execution ?" he teased finally quietly. She moved slowly over him. "What are you talking about ?" she whispered. _

_"__I am talking about Parker."_

_She lifted her head. His dark laugh sent__ a shiver down her spine. _

_"__I thought…." She stopped. _

_"__Oh no, moth, don´t put the blame on me", he told her, his tone as light as if he was talking about his last holiday. "He was almost dead when I got there. That was your work, honey!" _

_She moved again, now trying to get away from him to sit up. He didn´t let her. "No need to worry, moth. He is dead. That bastard won´t return to the living, I´m afraid." _

_"__God", she whispered in disbelief. Her amazement seemed real to him._

_"__I didn´t mean to kill him", she said after a while. He chuckled again. "That´s what they all say the first time, you know." _

_"__You´re vile." The tone of her voice hadn´t changed, but the words came heartily. _

_He moved a little himself this time, to get into a better position to kiss her. _

_"__You waited quite a while to be that honest to me, you know", he told her afterwards. He cradled the back of her neck for a moment. "Or are you getting´ perky, now that you practised a little ?" _

_This time, she struggled hard against him and he let her go. "This is disgusting!" she hissed, getting up. "I didn´t mean to kill him!" _

_He crossed thick muscled arms behind his head. "Why do you get that worked up about it ? We both know that he would have killed you if you wouldn´t have killed him first. It´s self defense, no ? Survival of the fittest, darling." _

_She stared at him in the almost complete darkness of the room. "Bad luck that I__ will not die no matter how hard you try", he stated drily._

_Disgusted, she turned away from him and rubbed her forehead for a moment. She had never doubted that Victor had killed the man and wondered now if she should have known better. "Good Lord", she whispered desperately._

_"__Get back here", he ordered lowly. "You can damn your god from here as well." _

_"__Get over here!" he barked finally when she didn´t react. She jumped a little, than followed the order, though hesitantly. He dragged her back down to him the moment she got close enough to the bed._

_"__Your god is really a bastard, isn´t he ?" he asked after another while. His words sank only slowly into her mind. "Blessing you with the gift of eternal life – without taking away your fear to die."_

_"__I don´t even know if I can´t die", she answered quietly. "My healing factor is not as strong as yours." She still tried to overcome the realization of what had happened some days ago. She shoved the thoughts aside for a moment and tried to concentrate on him instead._

_It brought her instantly another realization._

_"__Is that the reason you´re in such a good mood ?" she asked. "You didn´t like Parker ?" "I won´t miss him", he answered drily. _

_Then he laughed. "You´re really an unlucky little moth, you know! Now you just found out that you´re able to kill a man without even touching him – the perfect crime – and you´re with the only one inside here it won´t work on! Life´s a bitch, no ?" _

_She remained silent. She might not be able to kill him, but she had been able to almost overwhelm him not too long ago. She mused that a man who was as used to win as Victor wouldn´t be really able to forget about such an incident that quickly.._

_"__So you didn´t tell Stryker ?" she asked. He shook his head, aware that she would probably not see, but feel it. _

_Her hand touched accidentally his tags. They caused a soft metallic sound. _

_"__Why the hell are you with Stryker ?" she asked, suddenly changing the topic. _

_The question surprised him. _

_She had felt the change in the tense of his muscles, though it lasted only for a moment. "You hate him", she continued lowly. "And I don´t see what a man like him could offer you to make you stay."_

_The room fell silent for a while. __His final answer was as short as surprising._

_"__Revenge." _

_She realized in quiet horror that this might be the reason for the feral´s today surprisingly good mood. She didn´t dare to comment to that._

_"__And I won´t have to wait much longer now", he added softly. Anticipation rang through his words._

_"__Stryker´s a liar!" she stated impulsively. "You don´t trust him!" _

_He shrugged close to her. "Sure he is and I despise him! I´ll stay as long as it takes. And when I am done here, I´ll leave." _

_"__Stryker is a bastard, but he´s no fool!" she warned him, herself surprised by the sudden rush of emotions. Still, she continued. "He will only betray you, whatever he promised you!"_

_He only laughed. "I am not a fool, either, you know", he whispered. "So no need to worry about me, darling." He forced her closer against him. _

_"__And who knows ? Maybe I´ll take you with me when it´s over ?"_

_She didn´t answer to that, but thought that right now, he wasn´t any better as the man who controlled both their lives for the moment. _


	28. Chapter 28

Alayna sighed. Then got out of the bathtube where she had spent the last hour. Wrapping her in the overlarge soft towel, she felt agreeably tired and relaxed. Day´s work was done, had been done a while ago, and as Victor wasn´t around, she had taken the opportunity. He didn´t scare her that much, but though he hadn´t harassed her in any way so far – well, or probably just a little – she still had her suspicions about him.

She didn´t feel comfortable of even changing her clothes when he was around – and she would surely not have been able to enjoy the bath, knowing that he could possibly just walk into the room every minute. And with a little luck, he would return late enough to give her the time to clean up every trace of what she´d been doing. He would look right through her the second he found out about it.

She picked up her clothes and left, heading for her bedroom.

Later on, she realized that she hadn´t noticed him by any sense she could name. Only a step away from the doorsill, something sent a shiver down her spine. Made her stop.

For a split second, she couldn´t decide if to turn or to move on.

She turned.

As unaware as she had been the moments before, not noticing him close to the stairs, as aware she become suddenly of everything. Only a silhouette of a huge shadow against the even darker walls of the unenlightened hall. But threatening. The glimmer in his eyes expectant – but dangerous. His scent a clear message of silent pleasure, watching her freeze right where she stood.

She stared at him while she felt silent horror rising in her. She knew that he was able to see her, to take in every detail as good as she could. To smell her fear. She was hit by the thought that watching her standing here like frozen, wrapped in a towel, would wake the same memories in him as it woke in her.

The sudden attack made her yell and squeal the second she got smashed backwards against the wall. He pinned her wrists to the wall. The towel slipped down to her feet.

His scent was all around her. All lust, want and anticipation. All dominance.

She gritted her teeth, her eyes averted, knowing what was going to happen next.

Seconds passed.

* * *

The expected bite did never follow. Though he was still close – and ready.

She didn´t dare to only glance at him – or to move at all.

Then his painful grip, having lasted only for seconds, loosened.

His scent changed, telling her about a rage that rose inside him and spread trough his body. The might of it stunned her. Cold rage – rage which had probably been buried somewhere deep inside for a long time.

He stepped back. The instant before he turned away from her, their eyes met. Then he disappeared down the stairs, as silently as he had appeared at the upper end of the stairs before. The door getting slammed shot downstairs told her that he had left.

She stood motionless for another minute, leaning against the wall while another shiver rolled over her skin.

She finally picked up the towel and the rest of her things, trying hard to understand what just had happened.

She awaited him. He mused that she hadn´t slept at all.

He brought a gust of wind, snow and coldness in with him. Water dropped from him – he merely steamed. He looked badly pissed, too, but remained silent while he took of the soaked coat.

To his surprise, she got up and went over to him. "You´re late", she told him, taking the soaked cloak out of his hands. He threw her a dark look, but remained still silent.

She put a hand against his chest the moment he intended to do a step into the room.

"Lose that wet and dirty stuff right here, will you", she ordered. Her composure had surprised him at first, but he caught up with things quickly. The closer she got to him, the easier for her to find out about his mood. Well, the same worked for him.

Still, he threw her a look that murderous that she thought for a moment that she should have preferred wiping up some water and mud instead of dying. But it was too late. They stared at each other for a moment, and when she stood her ground, he only grunted and she watched him silently while he nestled at the buttons of his shirt.

Regarding the length of his claws, even if not extended, the task alone was clearly challenge enough. Besides that, his tags had somehow gotten tangled up with the buttons.

She watched for another moment. Then reached out for him.

He snarled at her, that aggressively that she flinched for a second.

She clicked her tongue disapprovingly after another moment, more annoyed by her own jumpiness than by his reaction. Her eyes not leaving his, she reached out again, quickly untangling the tags with subtle fingers.

"I was scared you wouldn´t make it home at all tonight", she told him softly. "Don't tell me you´d have regretted it!" he answered harshly.

"Just go upstairs and have a hot shower", she advised him.

"Scared I´m gonna catch myself a cold ?" he asked in that icy and dangerously quiet tone.

She had not only untangled the tags from the buttons, but had for some reason continued to open the buttons, too. His eyes wandered from hers down to her hands on his chest and back. Though he was still angry, some kind of the usual cynical amusement mixed into his anger.

She stopped and let her hands drop.

"You´re right", she told him, turning away from him. "Ridiculous to believe it would probably enlighten your mood." She turned her head to look at him, then smiled. "But you´re better mad at yourself than at me", she added lowly.

She had needed a while to realize it after he had left. But the longer she had thought about it, the clearer had things become to her.

He hadn´t planned to attack her. And he had surely not planned to rape her. Still, out of accident, he had caught her off her guard, half naked on her way to her bedroom. Things had taken him by surprise, too.

He hadn´t bitten her – though it had probably taken all his will power. But he hadn´t. And the rage that had followed the realization of what he had just been up to hadn´t been caused by the fact that she had yelled out in fear, but by his own lack of self control.

For another second, he felt anger rise in him again, but she only walked away from him, ignoring his stare.

"You really want me to lose all my clothes right here ?" he asked sardonically after a moment. She returned him a coolly look.

She stopped at the kitchen door, one hand touching the doorframe.

"Well, there´s nothing I haven´t seen yet, no ?" she asked softly, her voice calm but nevertheless teasing. Besides the guy had somehow tricked his healing factor and had gotten his ass tattooed since the island incident. Though she mused it would be healthier for not to say that. "Just leave the stuff there and get upstairs", she told him before she disappeared to the kitchen.

She hadn´t been really sure if her thinking was right, but by now, she was.

On his way up to the bathroom, he wondered again why he let her get away with stuff like that. And why he didn´t hate her for looking right through him, by the way.


	29. Chapter 29

She let her fingers slip over the chain that kept his tags in their place around his neck, wondering why she had entered the bathroom at all when he had called for her. The feral grump had decided for a bath instead of a shower – surprisingly enough for a cat. "

What the hell are you still wearing these for ?" she asked.

It took him some seconds to answer.

"They remind me."

„Of the good old times ?" she asked, realizing how bitter the words had sounded.

He didn´t seem annoyed, though. "Of old scores to settle", he answered lowly.

"How is it that you didn´t notice me ?" he asked after a moment.

"I was… preoccupied." She had hesitated too long to choose the word.

"You mean you were off guard", he mused she answered.

She only sighed.

He relaxed a little, letting his head rest against the bathtub´s rim. "I mean it´s in your blood, isn´t it ? It´s an instinct. Still, I took you by surprise several times", he mused.

She let her hand rest on his shoulder for a moment. "Don´t get me wrong, but I am not like you, Victor. I don't use these abilities instinctively."

He chuckled lowly. "No one´s like me, honey."

She brought her other hand to his other shoulder, her small fingers digging surprisingly forceful into his muscles.

He grabbed one of her wrists in a fast powerful move. "But the empathy", he stated, sounding suddenly quite annoyed. "Do you little bitch really think I´d buy your caring housewife show ?"

His grip around her wrist tightened and she suppressed a sound of pain.

„And do you really think I still need skin contact to take in your emotions ?" she asked back, her voice calm.

She told the truth – he had seen her using her mutation to scare away that guy at the bar – putting the fear of God into the man easily and within seconds without any contact.

"Let go", she told him lowly – still calm, but her tone more demanding than begging.

Victor hesitated. It wouldn´t take any effort to break her delicate bones. It would serve her right for trying to cheat on him. Teach her some of the respect she had obviously forgotten about over the years. Actually, he was surprised that he hesitated at all – regarding the fact that she would heal anyway.

"Let go!" she repeated when he didn't react, adding a soft "Please!" after another instant.

"Have you ever broken your wrist before ?" he asked in this kind of casual but threatening tone of his.

She bent forward a little to bring her mouth closer to his ear.

"Have you ever drowned ?" she whispered.

She flinched when he grabbed the front of her shirt with his free hand, so fast that she couldn´t avoid it, and forced her to lean in closer.

"Are you _threatening _me, moth ?" he asked, surprised.

"Let go!" she said, this time half groaning.

He released her, noticing the marks his grip had left.

She sighed silently, trying to overcome the pain he had caused.

He half turned for a moment, throwing her a dark side glance.

"Do you really think you could _confront _me ?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

She rolled her eyes behind his back.

"I couldn´t drown you", she admitted softly, half smiling at the contended growl he gave as an answer.

"But I could make you do it yourself", she added casually.

She squealed, this time more in surprise than in pain, when he yanked her from behind him to the side of the bathtub, staring down at her.

"I think you´re a little overconfident!" he snapped.

"Stop pushing me around, will you ?" she snapped back.

He released her again and she massaged her hurting wrist with the other hand.

"Did Xavier really train you to use your mutation to defend yourself – or just your ability to pretend ?" he asked.

She kept sitting where he had pulled her to, right besides the bathtub, watching him for a moment.

"Regarding our mutual past", she answered, choosing her words carefully, "did _you_ really think I would have accompanied you willingly, knowing I would be right at your mercy again ?"

He didn´t answer – just stared.

She put her arms around her knees, returning his gaze. Unexpectedly, she smiled, a mischievous smile that let her look like a girl.

„I don´t need to wash your back to realize that you´re up to something, Victor. Though it´s still confusing. You may not have told me everything – but you didn´t lie to me so far, either."

They looked into each other´s eyes for a moment. Then he leant back, growling lowly.

„Except one point", she added softly, getting back to her feet.

He grabbed her arm for the third time since she had entered the bathroom, though carefully this time.

"And what point would that be ?" he asked, now looking up to her.

"You don´t need somebody´s help to cool down nowadays, do you ? You control it. That raises the question what you would pay me all the money for."

He loosened his grip and let his hand slip down the inner side of her arm down to her hand, admiring the now dark marks he had left there.

"Still glad that I am back ?", he asked, ignoring her last comment. Her hand looked like a child´s, resting in his larger one.

"Just don´t leave me alone outside here for the night", she answered lowly. "Scares the hell out of me."

"Regarding our common past", he stated, mockingly repeating her words from before, "one should think you would prefer a night on your own to a night with me." His polite tone made her shake her head softly. "And I always thought bats love the night."

She laughed for a moment, and though it had been a short and low laugh, the tone of it told him clearly that she felt still – or again – at least halfway comfortable around him. At least more comfortable than some hours before.

"Moths love the fire", she only answered before she left.


	30. Chapter 30

The next morning, Victor told her he would pay the next town a short visit.

„Can I come with you ?" she asked.

„No."

„Why not ?"

He turned to her, surprised. "I said no."

"I wanna call Daniel", she insisted.

He eyed her up for a moment. There was some kind of resolute aura around her today. "Why ?" he asked grumpily. "To let him know I still haven´t fucked you ?"

The crude statement left her unimpressed. "I wanna know if he´s fine", she insisted.

"He is."

"And how do you know ?"

He had turned again to leave and stopped again in his tracks. This time, he looked pissed.

"Listen, I told you I would take care of that and I told you that he´s fine. I won´t…"

"Tell me how – do – you – know !" she interrupted him gravely.

He returned slowly to where she still stood. "Malloy had Erics tracking you all these years, hadn´t he ?" he asked.

Stunned by the sudden change of topic, she only nodded.

"Did he ever touch you ?" he continued.

She paled. "What ?"

"I wanna know if he groped you!"

The anger in his voice confused her. "He sometimes did", she answered hesitantly.

„Did he make you sleep with him ?"

Alayna´s eyes grew wide. „_Excuse_ me ?"

He grabbed her by the arms. His stare told clearer than any threat that he wasn´t willing to repeat the question.

"No", she answered eventually, blushing.

"That true ?" he insisted. His talons dug softly through her shirt and into her skin.

"Jesus, Victor, its true - he didn´t ! Now let go!"

He released her. Her words confirmed everything Creed had ever heard about Erics. The prick had loved to scare girls – though his real interest had obviously been more into adolescent boys.

"You talked to Danny ?" Alayna asked, rubbing the spots where he had cut into her skin.

"Yeah. He´s alright. No unwanted visitors."

"So far", she whispered, still worried.

„And you don´t need to worry any further, you know !" he added impatiently. "Nobody will come to harass him or you, for that matter! Erics won´t visit you – or anybody - again."

"What the hell did you do ?" she asked, holding her breath for a second.

"I said I would take care of that", he answered lazily. "Thought I´d make empty promises ?"

"You didn´t kill him ?" she asked fearfully.

He turned. "I did."

Her scent changed remarkably. "Holy God!" she muttered, horrified.

"What ?" he barked impatiently. "You wanted to beg for mercy for him ?"

She stared at him in disbelief. "Malloy will have me killed for this – and Danny and anybody around him, too!"

"Malloy won´t", he contradicted.

"Just tell me what you did!" she yelled.

"Fine!" he barked, smashing his keys down to the table right next to them. The sound of it made her flinch. "Erics has been betraying Malloy for years, though never too badly. Through all the years, Malloy could live with that – and besides, couldn´t prove it. I´ve been tailing Erics for different reasons, but I didn´t only find out that he was blackmailing you of all people, but also evidence that he had been stealing from Malloy constantly. And more. Erics was going to screw a big upcoming deal of Malloy´s. The old man and I had a nice little talk about all that."

"And what ?" she asked, her tone awkward.

Victor shrugged. "The old bloody bastard wanted to see if Erics would really dare to cheat on him. The idiot did. And I had some business left with Erics anyway."

"So Malloy and you agreed that you would get that business done and kill him afterwards."

He nodded.

"What about my debts ?" she asked hoarsely, imagining privately how the both of them had negotiated her fate like others would have negotiated about a second hand car.

"There have never been some."

She stared at him. "What the hell you´re talking about ?"

"Your nice little boyfriend had tried to cheat on the wrong people. To make amends, Malloy planned to use him as a courier. But that never happened. The deal he should deliver the money for was never made. He has never received the money. Erics took the chance to blackmail you and told you he was collecting debts in the name of Malloy. In fact, Malloy had never an interest. Explains why they were always contended even with the smallest amount of money."

She had paled. "It was only a lie", she muttered.

He nodded.

"Only a big single lie", she repeated, reaching out for the table besides her. She suddenly needed to hold on to something.

A single lie, created by a greasy bastard, a single man. A lie that had affected her life significantly for years. It was not only the mere fact that the guy had only lied – the fact that her mutation should have enabled her to look through that easily made things worse.

Tears filled her eyes. "What happened to Dominic back then ?" she asked, referring to her former boyfriend.

He shrugged.

"You don´t know or you don´t wanna tell me ?" she asked.

"I didn´t investigate."

"That´s a lie!" she yelled.

"How do you know ?" he asked.

"Forgot that I feel it ?" she spat.

He crossed his arms in front of his chest. "That´s the point, isn´t it ?"

She looked up to him, not catching up.

"Don´t think that you were just too blinded by fear to see it."

"You´re telling me Erics was a mutant ?"

Victor nodded. "Exactly. Actually, a skilled one. Manipulated a lot of people over the years."

"And Malloy let you just kill him ? Wasn´t he willing to use that ?"

Victor chuckled, dark and lowly. "Well, let´s say I didn´t deliver proof to Malloy regarding that point."

She finally turned her back on him, slightly trembling.

He drew closer. "However, it´s over." Catching the mass of her hair with one hand for a moment, he placed a soft kiss at the back of her neck. "I got to go, moth. Time enough to talk about the rest later on."

She didn´t answer or move, listening to him grabbing the keys and leave. She managed somehow to wait until he had closed the door behind him before she sank to the floor right where she had stood.

* * *

Victor stayed longer out as he had originally intended. He was angry. Angry of himself, mostly.

Telling her the truth had admittedly been the plan. But not that soon.

He had been virtually stunned the moment he had found out about it. About her. It had come as a complete surprise.

Telling her the truth had changed everything. True, the fact that he had found out about Erics blackmailing her had led him himself back to her. Had enabled him to find her. Erics blackmailing had been the base for his own ´offer´ towards her.

Telling her the truth had brought the game to an end. It had been too early to tell her. Still, not even knowing why, he had done it.

He wondered if she would still be there. Or if she had possibly already left. She would probably be angry enough to leave, even with the bad weather and freezing cold out here.

Growling lowly, he tried to regain control over his temper. Should the frail run. He wouldn´t let her go again, not a third time.

If she had run, he would find her. He had made his living by finding people for decades. He would find her. And this time, he promised himself, it wouldn´t take him another thirteen years.


	31. Chapter 31

**_Short one - just to jolly you along! But working on the next one!_**

* * *

_you were a hard man..._  
_ no harder in this world_  
_ you made me cold and you made me hard_  
_ and you made me the thief of your heart_

**_You made me the thief of your heart_**

**_Sinead O´Connor/ U2_**

* * *

Creed arrived at their hideout, realizing that he had spent the whole ride back there thinking about her possible reactions to what he had told her in the morning. For some reason, it raised anger in him.

Things got worse the second the house came in sight.

There were no lights. No smoke coming from the chimney.

He stopped the engine. Sitting back for a moment, he closed his fingers around the keys so tightly that the metal dug painfully into his skin.

He gnashed his teeth.

Goddamn bitch.

He smashed a fist against the wheel before he got out of the car.

So much about some munificence from her side.

* * *

The large main room lay deserted. The temperature had fallen remarkably. The fire had obviously died down hours ago.

Waiting for his eyes to adjust to the lights, he listened for a second. There was nothing to be heard that indicated that she was still around.

Victor felt his anger change, from enragement to cold grimness.

Her scent had started to fade.

He should have returned earlier.

It would have been much more satisfying to scare the hell out of her as long his anger was fresh. There wouldn´t be the same satisfaction if it took him hours to find her first, though he mused that she wasn´t able to move very fast.

He smashed the door to the kitchen open, heading for the fridge, but stopped in his tracks when something caught his eye.

She had prepared dinner. Or, more likely, lunch. Properly, as he noticed. Including dessert.

For a moment, he just stood and watched. It had been some time since something had really surprised him the last time.

He listened in again. He wouldn´t claim to understand women in general and he had only rarely been interested in doing so. Still, a girl on the run would most probably not take the time to prepare a three course menu and clean up the kitchen before she left.

Still, there was nothing to be heard.

Out of an impulse, he moved on, straight out through the backdoor.

Her scent had been much stronger at the kitchen.

* * *

She had found herself a place only steps away from the backdoor. Her back against the wooden wall of the house, she had put her head back to be able to look up to the sky. She didn´t move at all when he stepped through the door.

She sat on the frozen ground and he noticed that she was wearing his jacket. Besides the oversized camouflage parka, she hadn´t done much to protect herself from the cold. She hadn´t even fastened up the jacket. Though it had stopped snowing, it was freezing cold and the wind hurt on the skin.

Again, he just stood, staring at her.

It seemed to take minutes until she turned her head towards him.

They checked on each other, each of them in their own way.

Her scent mixed strangely with his own coming from his jacket. There were faint traces of odours left on her skin. From preparing the meal, from the log fire. A faint whiff of salt, undoubtedly from tears. That realization made him purse his lips for a moment.

She had reached out for him carefully, opened her mind towards his feelings, though hesitantly. She found anger there – again. Light astonishment, slowly changing into anger as well. Some agitation as well as frustration, dying away.

Anyone else might have asked her what she was doing out here. Or if she was alright. Everyone else would have interpreted correctly right away that the fact to find her sitting out there in the cold alone meant that something was wrong. In Victor, she mused, it caused only disapproval and some kind of inconvenience. Though he looked like he was going to rebuke her, he remained silent.

In any other situation, she might have smiled at these findings. He felt just like the grumpy o old feral he usually felt like.

She finally followed his unspoken order and got up from the ground, faltering a little at first.

He opened the door again and let her pass, staring at her back, disgruntled. She moved slowly, her limbs obviously dumb and surely hurting like hell from the cold. He wouldn´t have been able to name that particular waft, but there was even a trace of the coldness outside in her scent.


	32. Chapter 32

She served him dinner, getting herself busy with cleaning up the kitchen. Knowing that he liked her around, even if there was no conversation.

He watched her while she moved in her usual calm and neat way of working. Her healing factor would take care of any consequences of sitting in the cold for maybe hours. If there had been some, it had also already taken care of any physical signs of inner turmoil.

After finding her still around, he had at least expected her to shout at him. Or to cry. Trying to handle the agitation she had definitely felt when he had left in the morning. Instead, each movement, each gesture looked rather casual. He still observed every gesture. None of them spoke until he was almost done with his meal. Listening to the small sounds of the silverware touching porcelain, she felt his stare at her back and finally, she lost nerve and turned to him.

"Stop staring!"

Remaining silent, he refused, gesturing to her to sit down.

It wasn´t hard to think of his thoughts. She somehow enjoyed his confusion. She prepared herself a cup of tea, then sat down at the opposite side of the table.

"I was surprised that you were still here", he finally told her.

Hearing him admitting that surprised her.

"I could think of better things than marching through the woods at ten degrees below zero with you on my heels."

It was a lame answer and she knew it.

"Freezing to death by just sitting out there, for example ?" he snarled. "Very imaginative for a freak with a healing factor!"

Actually, she had hoped that the cold would make her help clearing her mind, but she was not in the mood to tell him that.

"Where was I supposed to go ?" She had actually considered leaving the lodge, but had dropped the thought. It would just have given him an excuse to freak out.

He only grinned wolfishly.

She was not in the mood for his games.

"I am sorry for spoiling your fun, Victor, but I know better than to run from you." Running from things led usually nowhere. And she was tired of running anyway.

"Funny", he answered, his eyes fixed on his plate. "I remember you trying to run from me once."

He looked up and noticed with grim satisfaction that the muscles of her jaw tightened for a second.

She was finally tired of the cat-and-mouse game.

"What is this about ?" she asked. "Why takin´ the effort of luring me here ? Why playing the charmer ?"

"What do you think ?" he asked.

The question surprised her again. She sat back.

"You know, I can´t know for sure. But I got a theory by now. You brought me here, pretending you need to lie low for a while – I wonder if that part is true, but I think so. You would give me some time to get accustomed to you."

He sat back as well, the expression on his face getting darker, one clawed hand still resting besides his plate on the table.

"You probably even thought I would go to bed with you", she continued. She bent a little forward. "You´re as arrogant as big-headed!"

He didn´t move.

"I guess you planned to wait with telling me about Erics", she continued. "Just in case."

"In case of what ?" he snarled, frowning.

"In case everything else wouldn´t work. The money thing. Or the nice guy show you´re putting up." Every emotion seemed to disappear from her face. "You´re really bad at that, you know", she told him lowly.

She sensed his temper rising slowly. For once, it made her feel contended.

"Looks like you led your trump prematurely", she added. She reached suddenly out to touch his hand with her own. He withdrew his own too fast to allow her skin contact. She wouldn´t have needed it anyway, as she had told him, but for some reason, she had wanted to make sure.

"Did you really expect me to stay with you in return for you killing Erics ?" she asked, the dark eyes wide.

"´s that your way to say thank you ?" he questioned. His voice sounded bitter, but her mutation told her that he wasn´t mad at _her_.

"I am not like you", she whispered.

"Really ?" he snarled.

She moved, suddenly annoyed.

"You´re enjoying yourself every minute, don´t you ? I´d bet you enjoyed killing Erics as well !"

He remained silent, returning her stare.

She found that she wasn't actually that surprised that he wouldn´t dispute that.

"Such an irony", she told him. "You, killing a guy just for _possibly_ doing the same thing you did to me yourself ! You´re an arrogant bastard, Creed! You didn´t kill the guy for threatening me or blackmailing me or harassing me – you took a life for somebody touching what you think is yours and now you´re trying to turn it into some kind of noble gesture!"

She got up, determined to leave.

"Why don´t we talk about the people _you_ killed for a change ?"

She froze. Memories returned to her mind´s eye, memories of concrete walls, the smell of her own blood and the stench of a sadistic brute enjoying her fear and pain. For some sick reason, his presence gave her suddenly an irritating feeling of safety, just like back at the island.

Meeting his eyes again, she mused that he was recalling the same memories, though from his own perspective.

"I didn´t mean to kill him", she whispered.

"You certainly spoiled my fun _back then_", he commented. "Besides, you had no choice."

He watched her, bemused.

"What about Oregon ?" he asked then, suddenly changing topic.

She froze for a second, then lifted her head a little.

"What ?"

"Must have been 1973, huh ?"

She looked straight at him, the expression on her face changing from discomfort to silent agony. Her cheeks had lost all colour.

"That was an accident", she whispered. "How the hell do you know about that ?"

He chuckled lowly.

"An accident….another one ?"

"I didn´t…", she started to contradict, but he interrupted her with an abrupt movement of his head.

"I had almost found you. I arrived only hours after that little disagreeable incident." Only some hours after according to the only half drunken witness, a little Asian moth had killed a guy at the backyard of a bar by just staring at him, seconds after he had killed a girl who had refused to give him whatever he had wanted.

"I didn´t mean to", she whispered.

"But you did!" he contradicted.

"He had just killed a girl for nothing!" she winced. "For nothing!"

„And you killed him!" he barked, bending forward a little. "Tell me, moth - did it feel right ?"

Her eyes filled with tears. "She was a friend!" she whispered. "And she died for nothing!"

She had turned to leave, but he was up from his chair in split seconds, grabbing her shoulder. He forced her to look at him.

"Did it feel right ?" he barked.

Her eyes had filled with tears. It took some seconds for her to answer and her words surely surprised Creed.

"Thou shalt not kill."

Her voice was barely a whisper. Still, her tone made it clear that she hadn´t said the words light-headedly. The quotation surprised him, still again not. He should have known that she might believe in these things.

Well, somebody probably should.

"He killed your friend."

"Judge not, that ye be not judged", she muttered under her breath.

"But things aren´t always that easy, aren´t they ?"

"Maybe that's our curse", she told him. "To live with it."

He gave a low sound of cynical amusement. "Well, nobody is going judge you if you can´t die."

She had stopped to struggle against his grip and he felt again intrigued by her eyes.

"If you had known that Erics is doing this on his own", he said. "Would you never have considered to kill him himself ?"

"No."

She had answered calmly and firmly, but her eyes betrayed her. He cupped her face in his hands, following the line of one of her ears with a single claw.

He placed a soft kiss on her right temple.

"You´d better not lie to me, moth", he whispered.

He moved to pull her closer and she put her own hand on one of his to stop him.

"Don't do this to me." She looked into his eyes again. "I am not like you."

Victor shrugged, looking unimpressed.

He didn´t answer to that statement and she realized that she had maybe misinterpreted his motives. The fact that she was nothing like him was probably just the point.

"You got quite a death count for a pacifist", he answered casually. "You´re _dangerous_, darling. That´s why you started staying away from the more crowded regions, isn´t it ? You´re hoping that reducing the number of people around you might reduce the risk of killing another piece of crap again."

His used one hand to caress the back of her neck.

"Don´t do this."

"None of us will ever be able to stop running", he continued lowly, caressing her left temple softly with his thump.

She grabbed his much larger hands and forced them away from her face, her skin.

"Think about what you did to me!" she hissed. "And now you´re offering me to _live_ with you ?"

He reached out for her again, but she stepped back and out of his direct reach.

"Do you expect me to apologize ?" he asked after a second. The question didn´t sound as cynical as usual. In fact, he had sounded just curious. It enraged her only more.

"I was never into guys who made killing their living and raping their hobby." Her own voice sounded hoarse in her ears.

His only reaction was a short twitching around the edges of his mouth.

"Now excuse me", she said, turning again towards the door.

"Sure", he commented lowly. "But think about things, Alayna."

"There´s nothing to think about", she muttered, pushing the door open.

"You would be safe", he only answered.


	33. Chapter 33

_Concrete walls. All around her. _

_Alayna ra__n._

_There was no way out._

_Her lungs were hurting. Here legs felt like they were up to quit service soon. _

_There were footsteps behind her. __She rather felt the tremor of them than heard it. _

_No way out._

_Pursuers drawing closer._

_Alayna panted for air. While throwing a short look over her shoulder, she smashed right into a wall. _

_The __lights went out._

_She gasped, panicking. __The footsteps were still drawing closer._

_She closed her eyes which had become useless in the complete darkness of the underground prison she was held captive in. Instinctively, she produced a short ultrasonic sound._

_The __echolocating kicked in immediately. Structures that had been lost with shutting off the lights returned to her, in a different way, but not less clear._

_She whirled around. _

_There it was. An escape route. Almost in reach._

_A spark of hope found a way into her mind. A rush of adrenaline flooded her blood._

_Then s__he stumbled over something unexpected in her way. She fell._

_She got back to her feet__, in disbelief. Her abilities had never betrayed her. _

_She smashed right into another wall where none should be, hurting her face this time. _

_The structures in her head started to blur._

"_No !" she cried, unable to stop the failing of her seventh sense._

_Hot pain flashed trough her body._

"_No", she whispered, still trying to flee. The world became dark again around her while hands grabbed her roughly by the shoulders._

Horror stricken, she struggled against the grip she felt in.

Somebody called her name.

"Layna!"

She hissed, while her whole body jerked in another attempt to break free. Victor suppressed the urge to just pin her down to the couch, but caught her wrists with his hands, trying to keep her claws away from his face. He felt her racing pulse under her skin. The smell of adrenaline overlaid everything.

"Layna!"

She calmed down slowly, as if she had to find her way back to consciousness first. It took its time to realize where she was. He eased his grip, though kept her hands carefully under control.

Alayna realized slowly where she was. With whom. She suddenly felt her own tears. There was still darkness around, but simply the one of the night.

She sobbed, still feeling hunted. Chased.

"Please let go."

Her voice was barely more than a whisper. For once, he did as asked.

She touched her face right where she had dreamed that she had hurt it and was glad to realize that she wasn´t hurt at all. She had obviously fallen asleep on the couch and had become half entangled in a blanket.

Her senses were still oversensitive. Reality overlaid the dream slowly. The scent of fire, wood and leather overlaid the memory of concrete´s scent slowly.

He reached carefully out and touched her cheek for a moment, then let his hand slip down a little to feel her pulse again. Things had obviously calmed down a little.

She had broken down a while before right where she sat. The realisation that she had been blackmailed and followed for years for nothing had hit her hard. Not sure about how Victor would react to her emotional turmoil, she had had a hard time to suppress it until the feral had left for a while again. Exhausted as she had been, she hadn´t heard him return.

She remained silent, and felt his warmth and calm breathing rather unconsciously while she returned slowly to reality.

His hand slipped from her cheek to her neck and she twitched slightly. For some reason embarrassed by her own reaction, she kept her eyes down.

"Don´t you trust me ?"

The odd question made her look up at him. This time, there was no telling if it was a serious or a mock question.

Dazed like she was and ignoring his words, she bent forward to let her forehead rest against his chest.

There was a slight trace of tension in his scent, but that might have been caused by her screaming – the rest of it only calmness. There was also a slight discontent in his emotions, mixed with the readiness to fight.

In the bewilderment of wakening, she used the empathy just as naturally as any other sense, reaching out for him, looking for consolation. Most probably unwillingly, he wrapped her silently in his own tranquillity.

Her hand found her way to his skin to find proof for her findings and she let her fingers rest on his wrist.

Then she looked up to him again, flabbergasted.

He returned her stare.

"What the hell you think you´re doing ?"

A kind of somber amusement rang through the words.

She drew her hand back, surprised that he had realized what she was doing.

"Don´t you trust me ?" she asked.

While he was still caressing her neck with one hand, he grabbed one of her hands with his other hand. Her extended frail looking claws retracted only slowly to the usual small black painted looking nails. He realized that she had never willingly tried to use them against him or anybody else threatening her- only once, and back then in pure panic – like right now.

She looked still embarrassed, but haunted as well.

"How late is it ?"

Her voice still sounding hoarse.

"Two hours ´til dawn."

She sighed, rubbing her face with the back of her hand.

"I need… " She broke up, having had a hot shower in mind. His presence, the most comforting thing she could have imagined only seconds ago, spoiled the otherwise quite pleasant thought. She closed her eyes, unwilling to hide her current resignation, and didn´t care for the unfinished sentence.

He withdrew his hand finally and made her immediately miss its warm touch on the back of her neck. He got back to his feet.

"Go to bed."

She looked up to him, somehow surprised about his calm attitude.

"I didn´t mean to…."

Her voice trailed of again.

"…wake you", she added lamely, realizing that he was completely dressed. He had obviously just returned.

"You could have taken care of the fuckin´ fire instead of wallowing in self-pity", he growled, turning towards the fireplace where the fire had died down a while ago.

"I sometimes dream of concrete walls", she muttered, ignoring his mockery. "I just can´t stand the smell of it."

"Go to bed", he ordered while preparing to make fire again. "Or have that goddamn shower of yours."

He could almost feel her sudden discomfort.

"I already had my fun for tonight", he added acidly without turning towards her.

Alayna got up slowly, still somehow fearing that her body would spin out of control just like in her dream.

He didn´t wish her sweet dreams this time while listening to the soft sound her bare feet caused on the wooden steps of the stairs.

He had started to hate the smell of concrete walls decades ago as well. But there was no obvious reason for him to let her know that.


	34. Chapter 34

brand new and written late in the evening, so sorry for the mistakes... I´ll review it, I promise!

* * *

_Alayna stared at the laden tablet on the table. She hadn´t seen an equally opulent meal for months._

_"Eat."_

_Victor crossed the room somehow lazily. He watched her while he loosened the laces of his boots._

_He had been away for over a week, a rather long period of absence after he had been around for most of the time during the last weeks. She had realized the moment he had shooed her out of her cell that he seemed in surprisingly high spirits._

_"What you´re waiting for ?"_

_She looked from the food to him and back. The words slipped her without thinking._

_"Is this going to be my last meal or something ?"_

_He chuckled darkly. Amusement showed on his face – an unusual obvious reaction._

_"You´d better start eating before I get hungry again, moth."_

_Regarding the fact that there were a lot more vegetables than meat on the plates, she doubted that he would make that threat come true. Still, she decided not to hesitate any longer. The food had been lousy most of the time, but Stryker kept his favourite personnel obviously better than his prisoners. She might have disdained the meal in any other situation, but right now, the surely overcooked vegetables smelled almost delicious._

_"How many steaks did you have ?" she asked while she took a seat and grabbed a spoon._

_"Three."_

_The answer came as prompt as unexpected. When she turned her head towards him, he had just looked at her as well. Mild surprise showed on his face. She realized that he had answered honestly – and obviously rather accidentally._

_"Carnivore", she muttered disparagingly._

_He gave her a toothy smile. To his surprise, she bared her own canines as well for a second._

_"Going to bite the hand that´s feeding you ?"_

_She stared down at her table and feigned concentrating on her meal._

_"No, Sir."_

_He chuckled, then stretched out on his cot._

_"Good girl."_

_Looking around for a water bottle, she spotted a set of new clothing, from the colour and size of it definitely meant for her._

_"What are we celebrating ?" she asked after a moment, chewing._

_"What makes you think we´re celebrating ?"_

_"You´re kidding ?"_

_He brought one arm behind his head and let his other hand rest loosely on his belly, closing his eyes. The bastard looked quite contended._

_She continued munching down the meal._

_"The sweet taste of revenge", he stated after a while._

_Something in his tone made her blood run cold._

_He realized that she had suddenly stopped eating._

_"Stop loafing, sunshine", he scolded._

_It was her turn to raise her eyebrows, wondering if he was going to say that they would not have the whole night - for a change._

_His low growl was answer enough to the unasked question._

_Still, his words unnerved her. Whatever he was exactly talking about, it had already brought her a new bar of soap, an unusual long and hot shower, new clothes and a special meal – a festive day so far._

_The next minutes passed in silence. When she was done with her meal, he gestured to her to get over to him. He reached out for her arm and pulled softly, forcing her into a sitting position above him._

_Her curiosity won._

_"So I take it that your last mission was successful ?"_

_Again, he chuckled._

_"Indeed."_

_He reached out and tugged at the overlarge towel she was wrapped in. The cloth gave way and allowed him full sight at her body. She lowered her eyes._

_He let the back of his forefinger´s talon slide slowly down from her throat to her navel. It caused a soft shiver and goosebumps and he found that he liked the effect._

_He remembered that he had thought about having some fun with her the night he had met her for the first time. He had never expected to get another chance to do that after he had left San Francisco back then._

_She opened her eyes again and met his. This time, she held his gaze, cocked her head a little. It made the cascade of black hair fall softly around her bare shoulders. Together with her scent, it gave him a thrill deep down and made him grow hard the same moment. She gave a small and soft sound of astonishment._

_"I was granted some extra leisure time, you know", he muttered, forcing her carefully to bend over. "So you better keep me in a good mood."_

_He forced her still closer and she had to put her hands to his chest to keep balance. She still stared right into his eyes, faced him in a way most people simply avoided as they were scared to displease the wayward feral._

_A pointed ear became visible the moment she turned her head a little. He followed its outline with his fingers. She managed to suppress any sound, but her lips parted a little, proof enough to make him grin._

_"I think you will", he whispered lowly._

_He changed his position a little to be able to raise pressure slowly. This time, she gave a small sound, a low hiss of barely suppressed arousal._

_She put more weight on her hands, moved her hips slowly. The subtle movement of her body over him made him growl in anticipation._

_Alayna broke eye contact and let herself sink down to him completely, allowing him to let his hands roam her body._

_As weird as it was, his absence had left her in a state of despair, unprotected, alone and hungry._

_Still, the long days in solitary confinement had made her realize that she had still not given up hope completely._

_She pressed her lower body softly against him and caused a not quite gently attack._

_Closing her eyes, she surrendered. At that point, she had had lost any idea about how her future life could or would look like if she was ever to regain her freedom again. But for now, she was ready to do and accept anything necessary. He was right. She would do whatever it took to keep him happy, and she would do it willingly._

_So for once, it felt right to let the animals instincts take over and shut down her conscious mind._


	35. Chapter 35

_Short one, admitted, but I think it´s finally time to bring this to an end... hope to be able to review and finish the rest soon, so think of it as a teaser :-)_

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The dark silk dress went quite well with her complexion, the soft fabric cool on her hot skin. He granted himself the luxury and savoured the memory of her taste.

Alayna, busy washing the dishes from breakfast and in jeans and a shirt instead of any negligee, turned to Victor, disbelief and faint surprise showing on her face. She seemed genuinely surprised.

„Would you stop ?"

Almost sprawled on the kitchen chair, he hadn´t let her out of his eyes for a second, fixing a point somewhere between her shoulder blades, while he had kept turning the coffee mug in the fingers of one hand.

He put the mug firmly down and let his hand rest next to it.

Alayna suppressed a sigh.

„Not what I meant."

A look at his lazy smirk was enough to realize that he had misunderstood her by purpose.

He let his gaze wander down her body and up again, concentrating on the nice amount of arousal his little daydream had caused. The emotional wave washing over her sent a shiver down her spine. He liked the way the impression on her face changed receiving it.

She turned completely and leant back against the sink.

„You really _are_ a bastard!"

Well, she had to admit, no one had ever played in such a way with her empathy talent before.

„You don´t say."

He grabbed hold of the mug again and set it a little harder down than before.

„Are you gonna let me die of thirst here ?"

„If you only could!" she retorted.

She followed the grumpy request and filled his mug again.

"Be careful", she advised diabolically. „Don´t want you to burn your tongue."

„Thanks for the advice!" he snapped.

Replacing the coffee pot to the brewer, she wondered how many times they had played this game since she had agreed to come here with him - and if they would do this to all eternity. In their special case, the idiom could almost be taken literally, she mused.

Victor realized contentedly that she seemed much more relaxed again. She seemed to have overcome the shock which had followed his undeliberately early made revelations as well as the bitter dispute that had followed. Though it had taken some days.

He had to suppress the upsurging anger immediately, not wanting her to become aware of it. Every minute he had had to watch her in this state of disturbance had left a bitter taste on his tongue, had made him feel restless and furious in the end.

He looked up and realized that she had filled another mug for herself and sat down right on the other side of the table now. She looked down into the cup for a second, then up to him again. The sudden change in her mood made him growl unwillingly.

„Will you tell me now what all of this is about ?"

This time, she had thrown him off his guard.

Seconds passed. She had expected him to give her another evasive answer, but he remained silent, his eyes locked on hers.

Victor realized that she had taken things out of his hands. While carefully listening in on his own feelings, he took in every detail of her appearance. It made no difference if she was in jeans and an outworn t-shirt or in silks and satins, it were her eyes which would always mesmerize him. Nevertheless, he wanted her in silks and satins and at least for now, he had the means to keep her in them for quite a while, even in the measures of their extented versions of a lifetime.

Still returning her patient but persistant stare, he took a deep breath, realizing that the endless twisting and turning of thoughts about how to handle this whole thing would finally come to an end, though he was not sure if things would finally work the way he had intended them to.

She felt the peculiar determination in him. Instead of the expected usual rage or displeasure, there was a kind of calm anticipation, of an appreciated thrill, as if he was expecting a long awaited showdown to take place.

In some way, this realization hit her harder than any disgruntled rebuke when she identified the emotion.

„You were serious about this", she stated finally.

About the both of them, she realized inwardly. He had made up his mind about this and she had to admit that he had made quite an effort to arrange every step. Regarding how long it had taken him only to find her...and how carefully he had tried to win her over...

She sat back, stunned. Disbelieving. How could this man, who had brought so many conflicting feelings and dark memories to her, ever believe that she...

She didn´t get the chance to bring the thought to an end. She flinched involuntarily when he suddenly grabbed her wrist. She stared down on his much larger hand covering her own for a second until she realized that he had caused the contact for the only purpose of allowing her to find confirmation for her musings.

Still like dazed from the unreal situation, she locked eyes with him again. It was rather an instinctive reaction than a conscious decision when she took a deep breath and opened up to his emotions.


End file.
